Study Sheds Light on How Brain and Inner Ear Developed in Dinosaurs

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Bristol reveals how the brain and inner ear developed in dinosaurs.

For this study, paleontologists Stephan Lautenschlager from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences together with Tom Hubner from the Niedersachsische Landesmuseum in Hannover, Germany, focused on the brains of a 150-million-year-old dinosaur.

They also carefully examined various fossils of the Jurassic dinosaur Dysalotosaurs lettowvorbecki, which was a small plant-eating dinosaur that existed 150 million years ago in what is currently called Tanzania. One fossil was of a 3-year-old juvenile and another fossil was of a fully-grown specimen that was more than 12 years of age.

"The two different growth stages of Dysalotosaurus provided a unique opportunity to study their brain, and how it developed during the growth of the animal," said Stephan Lautenschlager, lead author of the paper.  

With the help of high-resolution CT scanning and 3-D computer imaging, paleontologists were able to reconstruct and visualize the brain and inner ear of Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki.

According to co-author Tom Hubner, it is very rare to find a well-preserved fossil material that can be used to reconstruct brain anatomy. "We were fortunate to have different growth stages available for our study."

On carefully looking at the brain and inner ear anatomy, the researchers noticed that the brain of Dysalotosaurus underwent several significant changes during its growth period. This could most likely be in response to the environment and metabolic requirements. The crucial parts that were responsible for the sense of hearing and other cognitive processes were well-developed in the young individual.

This study highlights the fact that the brain was already well-developed in the young dinosaur, and it adapted itself well in order to interact with the environment and animals.

The study was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.