Shuvuuia was a small dinosaur, about the size of a chicken, and it lived in the deserts of what is now Mongolia. Shuvuuia’s skeleton is among the most bizarre of all dinosaurs – it has a fragile, bird-like skull, brawny, weightlifter arms with a single claw on each hand, and long, roadrunner-like legs. This odd combination of features has baffled scientists since its discovery in the 1990s. With the new data on Shuvuuia’s senses, the scientific team hypothesizes that, like many desert animals, Shuvuuia would have foraged at night, using its hearing and vision to find prey like small mammals and insects, using its long legs to rapidly run that prey down, and using its strong forelimbs to pry the prey out of burrows or shrubby vegetation.
The authors hypothesize that, like many desert animals, Shuvuuia deserti would have foraged at night, using its hearing and vision to find prey like small mammals and insects, using its long legs to rapidly run that prey down, and using its strong forelimbs to pry the prey out of burrows or shrubby vegetation.
“Nocturnal activity, digging ability, and long hind limbs are all features of animals that live in deserts today,” Professor Choiniere said.
“But it’s surprising to see them all combined in a single dinosaur species that lived more than 65 million years ago.”
Picture Credit : Google
