Fossils reveal ‘neglected’ dinosaur with super senses lived underground
Some unique characteristics of a dinosaur species have been uncovered by examination of an “overlooked” skull fossil located at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Thescelosaurus neglectus is the scientific name for this relatively small-sized dinosaur, which roughly translates as “wonderful, overlooked lizard.”
Scientists from North Carolina State University conducted a more thorough examination of the skull of this dinosaur that brought to light its “super senses.”
Interestingly, the findings showcased that it exhibited an uncommon combination of features prevalent in underground species, including an amazing sense of smell.
“The work is the first to link a specific sensory fingerprint with this behavior in extinct dinosaurs.” mentioned the official release.
CT scans helped reconstruct soft tissues
Nicknamed Willo, this small herbivorous dinosaur was 12 feet tall and weighed around 750 pounds (340 kilograms).
Willo resided in parts of North America just before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction catastrophe that occurred 66 million years ago.
CT scans were performed on the fossilized skull of this dinosaur.
This enabled the reconstruction of soft tissues within Willo’s skull, such as the brain and inner ear, destroyed over millions of years.
The researchers also compared these sensory structures to other dinosaurs and their modern-day relatives.
This analysis enabled the researchers to ascertain the proportionate size of Willo’s brain and gain insights into its olfactory, auditory, and equilibrium senses.
This dinosaur lived underground with an exceptional smelling sense
Surprisingly, this species had a limited range of hearing ability, particularly when processing high-pitched sounds.
“We found that Thescelosaurus heard low frequency sounds best and that the range of frequencies it could hear overlaps with T. rex. More interesting to us was that these particular deficiencies are often associated with animals that spend time underground,” said Lindsay Zanno, associate research professor at NC State and co-author of this new study.
But, Willo managed to compensate for its limited hearing with an exceptional sense of smell.
“We found that the olfactory bulbs – the regions of the brain that process smell – were very well developed in Thescelosaurus,” said David Button, a former Brimley postdoctoral scholar at this museum and university.
Button added: “They were relatively larger than those of any other dinosaur we know of so far, and similar to those of living alligators, which can smell a drop of blood from miles away.”
Willo’s keen sense of smell helped it find hidden plant nutrients like roots and tubers.
The authors highlight that the species also developed an exceptional sense of balance, a known characteristic of burrowing animals.
“T. neglectus’ poor cognitive and hearing abilities, coupled with powerful arms and legs and overdeveloped senses of smell and balance, are all features characteristic of animals that spend time underground and/or engage in digging behaviors today,” concluded the release.
Source: Interesting Engineering
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Fossils reveal ‘neglected’ dinosaur with super senses lived underground