Friday, July 07, 2006

T.rex vision

Sight for 'Saur Eyes: T. rex vision was among nature's best: Science News Online, July 1, 2006:
T. rex had a binocular range of 55�, which is wider than that of modern hawks, Stevens reports in the summer Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Moreover, over the millennia, T. rex evolved features that improved its vision: Its snout grew lower and narrower, cheek grooves cleared its sight lines, and its eyeballs enlarged.

These scientists, hey? I remember (vaguely, mind you) thesis titles in the geology department (somewhere at Rhodes University) describing measurements on some obscure fossil jaw bone or some such seemingly esoteric topic. But it is a forensic type study, a Dashiel Hammett/Rebus/Kojak and even Magnum, P.I., effort to uncover (oh dear!) the secrets of all those millenia ago. I'll have another sip of beer on that one...cheers.

He found that T. rex might have had visual acuity as much as 13 times that of people. By comparison, an eagle's acuity is 3.6 times that of a person.
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