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CT scans reveal that dinosaurs were airheads
Date:12/8/2008

n without all the air. That savings in weight could have allowed the predators to put on more bone-crushing muscle or even to take larger prey.

These sinus cavities also may have played a biomechanical role by making the bones hollow, similar to the hollow beams used in construction both are incredibly strong but don't weigh as much their solid counterparts. A light but strong skull enabled these predators to move their heads more quickly and helped them hold their large heads up on cantilevered necks, explained Witmer, who published the findings in a recent issue of The Anatomical Record.

Though most researchers have assumed that the nasal passages in armored dinosaurs would mimic the simple airways of the predators, Witmer and Ridgely found that these spaces actually were convoluted and complex. The passages were twisted and corkscrewed in the beasts' snouts and didn't funnel directly to the lungs or air pockets.

"Not only do these guys have nasal cavities like crazy straws, they also have highly vascular snouts. The nasal passages run right next to large blood vessels, and so there's the potential for heat transfer. As the animal breathes in, the air passed over the moist surfaces and cooled the blood, and the blood simultaneously warmed the inspired air," said Witmer, whose research is funded by the National Science Foundation. "These are the same kinds of physiological mechanisms we find all the time in warm-blooded animals today."

These twisty nasal passages also acted as resonating chambers that affected how the ankylosaurs vocalized. The complex airways would have been somewhat different in each animal and might have given the dinosaurs subtle differences in their voices.

"It's possible that these armored dinosaurs could recognize individuals based on the voice," said Witmer, who noted that his research team's studies of the inner ear revealed a hearing organ that probably had the capability to discrimi
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Contact: Andrea Gibson
gibsona@ohio.edu
740-597-2166
Ohio University
Source:Eurekalert

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