Within a dinosaur’s head: ankylosaur was sluggish and deaf

Life reconstruction of the dinosaur Struthiosaurus austriacus from the Late Cretaceous of Austria (© Fabrizio De Rossi) - German and Austrian scientists took a closer look at the braincase of a dinosaur from Austria. The group examined the fossil with a micro-CT and found surprising new details: it was sluggish and deaf. The respective study got recently published in the scientific journal scientific reports. Ankylosaurs could grow up to eight meters in body length and represent a group of herbivorous dinosaurs, also called 'living fortresses': Their body was cluttered with bony plates and spikes. Some of their representatives, the ankylosaurids sometimes possessed a club tail, while nodosaurids had elongated spikes on their necks and shoulders. However, some aspects of their lifestyle are still puzzling. While many dinosaurs likely lived in groups, at least some ankylosaurs seemed to prefer a lonesome life because of an inferior sense of hearing.