How Ct scan reveals neglected dinosaur had super senses

 

Introduction

 

^{A CT scan of the skull of an oft-forgotten plant-eating dinosaur reveals that while it wasn't all that "smart," it had a unique combination of traits associated with living animals that spend at least part of their time underground, including a  super nose and excellent balance. This work is the first to link a specific sensory fingerprint to this behavior in extinct dinosaurs.}

The dinosaur in question, Willow, is a specimen housed at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Willa - Thescelosaurus neglectus - a small (12 feet or 3.6 meters long) but heavy (750 pounds or 340 kilograms) herbivore that lived in what is now North America just before the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago .

 

Willa's scientific name roughly translates to "wonderful, overlooked lizard." But David Button, ex-Brimley

Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and co-author of the paper. “When we first looked at our results, we thought, yes, this animal is as easy as toast. But then we took a big step back and realized there was something unique about the combination of Will's sensory strengths and weaknesses."

"It's amazing to consider that prehistoric creatures may have existed beneath the feet of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops. Whatever the case, we can now be sure that T. neglects isn't dull."

 

Additional details: The  scelosaurus neglects (Neornithischia: The scelosauridae): Neuroanatomy of the late Cretaceous reveals unexpected ecological specializations within Dinosauria, David J. Button et al., Scientific Reports (2023). 10.1038/s41597-82

 

Baton and Zeno determined that the hearing range of T. neglectus is limited. The dinosaur could only hear about 15% of the frequencies that humans can detect, and 4% to 7% of the frequencies that dogs and cats can hear. In particular, T. neglectus did not hear high-pitched sounds well.

The optimum frequencies to listen for are low frequencies, and T. rex's hearing range overlaps with these frequencies, according to Zanno. They weren't necessarily used to hearing T. rex vocalizations, but it didn't hurt to be aware when a large predator was in the vicinity. What caught our attention more was the correlation between these specific impairments and subterranean animals."

 

Despite having weak hearing, Thescelosaurus had good

“We discovered that the Thecelosaurus could hear

Thescelosaurus used its superior hearing to counterbalance its

"We found that the olfactory bulbs—the regions of the brain that process smell—were very well developed in Thescelosaurus," Button explains. "They resembled those of extant alligators, which can detect a drop of water, and were comparatively larger than those of any other dinosaur that we currently know of."

The optimum frequencies to listen for are low frequencies, and T. rex's hearing range overlaps with these frequencies, according to Zeno. They weren't necessarily used to hearing T. rex vocalizations, but it didn't hurt to be aware when a large predator was in the vicinity. What caught our attention more was the correlation between these specific impairments and subterranean animals."

 

Despite having weak hearing, Thescelosaurus had good

"We found that the olfactory bulbs—the regions of the brain that process smell—were very well developed in Thescelosaurus," according to Button. They resembled the size of extant alligators, which are able to detect traces of human presence, and were comparatively larger than any other dinosaur that we are now aware of.

Says Zanno. This implies there are still a ton of exciting discoveries to be made, but it also makes it challenging to confidently associate these qualities with particular lifestyles.

 

"It's amazing to consider that prehistoric creatures may have existed beneath the feet of Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops. Whatever the case, we can now be sure that T. neglectus isn't dull."

 

Additional details: Thescelosaurus neglectus (Neornithischia: Thescelosauridae): Neuroanatomy of the late Cretaceous reveals unexpected ecological specializations within Dinosauria, David J. Button et al., Scientific Reports (2023). 10.1038/s41597-823-45658-3 is