Savannah Monitor Lizard (IMAGE)

University of Utah

Savannah Monitor Lizard

Caption

A monitor lizard hugs a branch. A new University of Utah study found that air flows mostly in a one-way loop through the lungs of savannah monitor lizards, just as it does in birds, alligators and presumably dinosaurs. The discovery means this unusual one-way airflow may have evolved 270 million years ago -- 100 million years before birds first flew.

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© Cheryl A. Ertelt.

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