New Species Of Tyrannosaur Made Use Of Its ‘Sixth Sense’ For Hunting

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    The newly discovered species Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most well-represented of the large theropods that lived 75 million years ago. These species had a nerve which had a developmental history of changing into wildly different ‘sixth senses’. The nerve is located on its nose that helps it to investigate the slightest change in its environment. It also made use of it during foreplay to rub it against the face of its pair.

    A number of scientists from Carthage College’s Department of Biology in Wisconsin recognized a Tyrannosaur species which carried out a very different and rare form of development called anagenesis where new species is gradually produced without splitting an ancestral population into two or more descendants. When a discovery was made about the Tyrannosaurus rex species, it was found that Daspletosaurus horneri was an unnamed transitional species between Daspletosaurus torosus and Tyrannosaurus rex. Bones of these species are compared with the modern animals. After comparison, it is revealed that all tyrannosaurs were armed with a “sixth sense” that’s similar to one utilized by living crocodiles.

    Ancestors of dinosaurs and crocodiles are same. When the sensory function of a crocodile is compared with a tyrannosaur, it may seem like a bit of a stretch given their physical differences and distance on the evolutionary tree. In most of the animals, the trigeminal nerve has developed to trigger different “sixth senses,” such as the sensing of magnetic fields among birds, pit vipers sensing infrared, alligators sensing vibrations in the water.

    “This trigeminal nerve is so delicate that in pathological conditions like trigeminal neuraligia, it can be responsible for some of the most severe pain our species can endure; in some of the cases, the pain is so great that many people suffering from it can even commit suicide”, Dr. Sedlmayr said. The Trigeminal nerve in humans provides important touch sensitivity to the face. It also allows coordinating one of the important factors for human communication i.e. the emotional displays.

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