{"id":89297,"date":"2023-11-07T13:04:51","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T18:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=news&p=89297"},"modified":"2023-11-07T13:04:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T18:04:51","slug":"dig-this-neglected-dinosaur-had-super-senses","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/news\/dig-this-neglected-dinosaur-had-super-senses\/","title":{"rendered":"Dig This: \u2018Neglected\u2019 Dinosaur Had Super Senses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AA family of Thescelosaurus<\/em> emerges from safety to forage in the forests of the Hell Creek Formation, 66 million years ago. Image: Anthony Hutchings.<\/span><\/p>\n

A CT scan of an often-overlooked, plant-eating dinosaur\u2019s skull reveals that while it may not have been all that \u201cbrainy,\u201d it had a unique combination of traits associated with living animals that spend at least part of their time underground, including a super sense of smell and outstanding balance. The work is the first to link a specific sensory fingerprint with this behavior in extinct dinosaurs.<\/p>\n

The dinosaur in question, Willo, is a specimen housed at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Willo is a Thescelosaurus neglectus<\/em> \u2013 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 end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, 66 million years ago.<\/p>\n

Willo\u2019s scientific name roughly translates to \u201cwonderful, overlooked lizard.\u201d But David Button, a former Brimley Postdoctoral Scholar at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University, decided to look more closely at this \u201coverlooked\u201d dinosaur\u2019s skull. Button is currently a research associate at the University of Bristol in the U.K.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

\u201cThe irony is that paleontologists generally think of these animals as pretty boring,\u201d says Lindsay Zanno<\/strong><\/a>, associate research professor at NC State, head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and co-author of the work.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that Thescelosaurus<\/em> heard low frequency sounds best, and that the range of frequencies it could hear overlaps with T. rex<\/em>,\u201d Zanno says. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t tell us they were adapted to hearing T. rex<\/em> vocalize, but it certainly didn\u2019t hurt them to know when a major predator was tooling about in the area. More interesting to us was the fact that these particular deficiencies are often associated with animals that spend time underground.\u201d<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

The research appears in Scientific Reports<\/a>. Button is corresponding author. Willo is currently on display at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Visitors to the museum will soon be able to explore the 3D skull and hearing capabilities of Willo for themselves in an interactive exhibit being built for the new Dueling Dinosaurs experience due to open in 2024.<\/p>\n

Read the full article<\/a> in NC State University News<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

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