Dinos could hunt at night

Scientists have discovered the first example of a dinosaur with senses adapted for hunting in complete darkness – the prehistoric equivalent of today’s night-time hunters such as barn owls. Researchers from the University of Oxford, in England and South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand used CT scans (a sort of 3D X-ray) to reconstruct the eyes and inner ears of more than 100 living birds. They compared them with those of extinct dinosaur species. Birds are closely related to dinosaurs, so comparing the features of their skulls can reveal shared characteristics. In this case, the team found that a desert-dwelling dinosaur called Shuvuuia had extraordinary hearing and night vision. Shuvuuia was a chicken-sized dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia, around 75 million years ago. To work out how…

You're reading a preview of

The Week Junior (Digital) - 1 Issue, 284

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.