Dinosaurs Enjoyed Nightlife, Too
2021-05-13
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1Small dinosaurs once lived in the desert in today's Mongolia and northern China.
2Their great night vision and strong hearing made them deadly predators during the nighttime.
3Scientists said Thursday they have found a circle of bones around the eye of a dinosaur called Shuvuuia Deserti.
4The bones were inside the skull, which holds the hearing organ.
5Scientists say the dinosaur had hearing and sight abilities much like an owl, meaning it could hunt in the dark.
6Their study was published in the journal, Science.
7The research showed that most predatory dinosaurs had good hearing, but their sight worked best during the daytime.
8The Shuvuuia, however, loved nightlife.
9The two-legged dinosaur was the size of a large bird and weighed about as much as a house cat.
10It had many small teeth, like pieces of rice.
11It was lightweight and lived during the Cretaceous Period, about 75 million to 81 million years ago.
12Roger Benson is a paleontologist from the University of Oxford who helped write the study.
13"It's such a strange animal that paleontologists have long wondered what it was actually doing," he said.
14Its mid-length neck, small head, and very long legs, made it look like an unusual chicken.
15But unlike birds, it had short, strong arms with a large claw on the end, which was useful for digging.
16Jonah Choiniere is a paleontologist at Wits University in South Africa and the study's lead author.
17"Shuvuuia might have run across the desert floor under cover of night, using its incredible hearing and night vision to track small prey such as nocturnal mammals, lizards and insects," he said.
18The researchers also looked at a structure called the lagena.
19The lagena is a curved sack that sits in an area of bones around the brain.
20It is connected to the part of the ear that lets reptiles and birds keep balance and move their heads while walking.
21The longer the lagena, the better hearing an animal has.
22The barn owl can hunt even in total darkness and has the longest lagena of any living bird, relative to its size.
23Shuvuuia also has a very long lagena, almost the same in relative size to a barn owl's.
24The researchers also found that Shuvuuia had a very wide scleral ring -- tiny bones that circle the eyeball.
25The ring's large size means that it was able to see in darkness.
26Choiniere said that he previously thought that during the age of dinosaurs, the night was used by mammals to come out of hiding and still avoid predators.
27"The importance of these findings is that it forces us to imagine dinosaurs like Shuvuuia evolving to take advantage of these nocturnal communities," he said.
28I'm Jill Robbins.
1Small dinosaurs once lived in the desert in today's Mongolia and northern China. Their great night vision and strong hearing made them deadly predators during the nighttime. 2Scientists said Thursday they have found a circle of bones around the eye of a dinosaur called Shuvuuia Deserti. The bones were inside the skull, which holds the hearing organ. Scientists say the dinosaur had hearing and sight abilities much like an owl, meaning it could hunt in the dark. 3Their study was published in the journal, Science. The research showed that most predatory dinosaurs had good hearing, but their sight worked best during the daytime. The Shuvuuia, however, loved nightlife. 4The two-legged dinosaur was the size of a large bird and weighed about as much as a house cat. It had many small teeth, like pieces of rice. It was lightweight and lived during the Cretaceous Period, about 75 million to 81 million years ago. 5Roger Benson is a paleontologist from the University of Oxford who helped write the study. "It's such a strange animal that paleontologists have long wondered what it was actually doing," he said. 6Its mid-length neck, small head, and very long legs, made it look like an unusual chicken. But unlike birds, it had short, strong arms with a large claw on the end, which was useful for digging. 7Jonah Choiniere is a paleontologist at Wits University in South Africa and the study's lead author. 8"Shuvuuia might have run across the desert floor under cover of night, using its incredible hearing and night vision to track small prey such as nocturnal mammals, lizards and insects," he said. 9The researchers also looked at a structure called the lagena. The lagena is a curved sack that sits in an area of bones around the brain. It is connected to the part of the ear that lets reptiles and birds keep balance and move their heads while walking. The longer the lagena, the better hearing an animal has. 10The barn owl can hunt even in total darkness and has the longest lagena of any living bird, relative to its size. Shuvuuia also has a very long lagena, almost the same in relative size to a barn owl's. 11The researchers also found that Shuvuuia had a very wide scleral ring -- tiny bones that circle the eyeball. The ring's large size means that it was able to see in darkness. 12Choiniere said that he previously thought that during the age of dinosaurs, the night was used by mammals to come out of hiding and still avoid predators. 13"The importance of these findings is that it forces us to imagine dinosaurs like Shuvuuia evolving to take advantage of these nocturnal communities," he said. 14I'm Jill Robbins. 15Will Dunham reported this story for Reuters. Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor. 16__________________________________________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18paleontologist - n. the science that deals with the fossils of animals and plants that lived very long ago especially in the time of dinosaurs 19claw - n. a sharp curved part on the toe of an animal 20incredible - adj. extremely good, great, or large 21vision - n. sight, the ability to see 22prey - n. an animal that is hunted and killed by another animal for food 23evolve - v. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state : to develop by a process of evolution