Page 33 - Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)

Large eye with good
nocturnal (night) vision

IN THE DARK
Leaellynasaura was a small
ornithopod with large eyes and
big optic lobes—parts of the brain
that interpret what the eyes see.
Scientists believe this means that
Leaellynasaura could see well in
the dark, which helped this small
plant-eater to live through a long
winter night lasting for weeks.
Leaellynasaura lived in southern
Eye facing forward Australia about 110 million years
ago—a time when that part of the
world lay close to Earth’s south
pole and was therefore covered
in darkness in winter.

SNIFFING IT OUT
Tyrannosaurus (“tyrant lizard”) had large
olfactory lobes—parts of the brain that
interpret what the nose smells. This
suggests that this Late Cretaceous
theropod possessed a keen sense of
smell. Like a turkey vulture, it could
probably scent a dead body lying
around half a mile (1 km) away. Some
people believe that Tyrannosaurus ate
only dead dinosaurs. This meat-eater
might have scavenged some of its
food, but Tyrannosaurus was
probably a hunter-killer as well.

Head crest

BRIGHT AND COLORFUL
Bright colors might have adorned the head
crest of Cryolophosaurus (“frozen crested
lizard”), a large theropod found in an
icy Antarctic mountain. Colorful skin,
crests, or feathers could have helped male
theropods to attract mates. This would have
worked only if these dinosaurs could tell
different colors apart. We can be pretty sure
that they could, however, because birds can
identify colors and birds are theropods, too.

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Standing among tree ferns, a greenish
Iguanodon would have been almost invisible
to its predators. No one knows what this
animal’s skin color really was, but many
dinosaurs were probably colored or
patterned with spots or stripes so that
they matched their surroundings. Just as with
some living wild mammals, color camouflage
would have helped plant-eaters to avoid being
eaten, and hunters to creep up on their prey.

31