Night-vision let dinosaurs stalk prey by dark: study

Night-vision let dinosaurs stalk prey by dark: study
Thu Apr 14, 2:10 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Ferocious, meat-eating dinosaurs were equipped with night vision that helped them stalk their prey in the dark, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

Plant-eating dinosaurs could also see a fair bit at night, because they likely had to eat round the clock to keep their bellies satisfied, while flying dinosaurs, like birds, were active only during the day, said the study.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, were able to make these judgments by studying the eye area of fossilized dinosaurs.

By taking measurements of the bony circle called the "scleral ring" in their eye and comparing it to the eye socket size in 164 living lizards and birds as well as 33 dinosaur fossils, scientists could tell which ones saw in the dark.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110414/ts_alt_afp/sciencepaleontologydinosaurs_20110414181100

...could suddenly be wiped out in mass extinction.

Makes you realize how fragile our own existence is.

and I'm still waiting for cloned dinosaurs to show at my local zoo. Hurry up!

not the great big ones, but their modern descendants which we call birds.

If a birdie escapes people don't panic...
I want 6 inch teeth, massive muscles, a roar that will scare children...

Sorry but a chicken is no substitute.

but this one has 5 inch claws that can kill you. It can run 30 MPH through the forest. Its "boom" is the lowest known bird call, and is on the edge of human hearing. That should be good for scaring children.



Read all about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary

Amazingly unusual, so interesting.

Thanks for the information.

All I did was cut and paste. :)

and they are not much different than their ancestors. Same for sharks. All are more active at night.

although the waves are a lot less crowded above water, at night you would get a lot more waves for yourself. Not that a shark wouldn't nibble on your ankle in the daytime, but I sure wouldn't be out there when the waves were good, even if there were a lot of outdoor lighting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13083990

The dinosaurs were the dominant tetrapods of their time. It shouldn't come as a big surprise that they occupied a variety of niches, both diurnal and nocturnal.