Shuvuuia s hearing ability was as good as an owl’s
It roamed in the present-day Gobi Desert region in Mongolia
A new study has revealed that a tiny, carnivorous dinosaur, which had an exceptional low-light vision and whose hearing ability was as good as an owl s, hunted its prey at night. Measuring only 2 feet, the three-toed dinosaur species named Shuvuuia had large eyes and longer cochlea the part of the inner ear canal that holds sensory receptors. The creature used these abilities to see in the dark and hear even better than the barn owl. This particular species roamed the Earth about 75 million to 81 million years ago (late Cretaceous period) in the present-day Gobi Desert region in Mongolia.
New theropod dinosaur discovered that hunted in the dark
Satsuki Then - May 7, 2021, 4:54am CDT
Modern birds live in just about every habitat on the planet, with only a few having adaptations allowing them to hunt active prey at night. Birds are derived from a group of dinosaurs known as theropods. Scientists have long wondered if any of the ancient dinosaurs had sensory adaptations allowing them to hunt at night. A new study led by Professor Jonah Choiniere from the University of the Witwatersrand has answered that question.
Choiniere and his team investigated how the vision and hearing abilities of dinosaurs and birds compared. The researchers used CT scanning and detailed measurements to collect information on the relative size of the eyes and inner ears of nearly 100 living bird and extinct dinosaur species. To measure hearing, the team measured the length of the lagena, which is the organ that processes incoming sound information similar to the cochlea in m
Chicken-sized dinosaur hunted at night
The odd little dinosaur dubbed Shuvuuia had incredible hearing and vision.
A little dinosaur called Shuvuuia may have hunted in the dark using night vision and super hearing.
This chicken-sized therapod lived in the deserts of what is now Mongolia. Its skeleton has a seemingly fragile bird-looking skull and brawny arms with only a single claw. It also had long roadrunner-like legs.
The team of researchers, led by Jonah Choiniere and James Neenan of the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, found the length of the Shuvuuia’s lagena (a cochlea-like organ birds have to process incoming sound) was very similar in relative size to the barn owl, which is an excellent night hunter with extraordinary hearing.
There s only one known species,
Shuvuuia deserti, and it was smaller than a domestic cat, measuring just 2 feet (0.6 meters) long.
Shuvuuia lived about 75 million to 81 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period (145.5 million to 65.5 million years ago), in what is now the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
Prior analysis of
Shuvuuia s fossilized eye bones revealed that it had large eyes that were specialized for seeing in dim light. But at the time, little was known about dinosaur adaptations for nocturnal activity.
In a new study, scientists looked at skulls from dozens of species of extinct theropods and modern birds – the only theropod lineage that survived to the present.