About 150 million years ago, the land that is now the western United States was alive with dinosaurs. New research shows that the smallest members of the biggest dinosaurs played a huge role in keeping that world alive. Researchers from University College London and Hofstra University recreated a complex food chain from the Late Jurassic. Their investigations were primarily located at a paleontological site known as the Morrison Formation, and a location in Colorado identified as the Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry. Their findings will be published in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. Under the direction of Dr. Cassius Morrison at University College London, scientists learned that during the age of the sauropods, the babies and small juvenile sauropods provided the main source of food for the meat-eating dinosaurs. The sauropods, the long-tailed or long-necked vegetarians, eventually grew to larger sizes than any other land animal. The Role of Juvenile Sauropods While Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus, adult sauropods, were both enormous animals, Dr. Morrison explains, “When an adult sauropod like this walked, …