Dinosaurs breathed like penguins

Velociraptor: More like a penguin than we thought

Dinosaurs like Velociraptors owe their fearsome reputation to the way they breathed, according to a UK study.

They had one of the most efficient respiratory systems of all animals, similar to that of modern diving birds like penguins, fossil evidence shows.

It fuelled their bodies with oxygen for the task of sprinting after prey, say researchers at Manchester University.

The bipedal meat-eaters, the therapods, had air sacs ventilated by tiny bones that moved the ribcage up and down.

"Finding these structures in modern birds and their extinct dinosaur ancestors suggests that these running dinosaurs had an efficient respiratory system and supports the theory that they were highly active animals that could run relatively quickly when pursuing their prey," said Dr Jonathan Codd, who led the research.

"It provides a mechanism for facilitating avian-like breathing in non-avian dinosaurs and it was there long before the evolution of flight occurred," he told BBC News.