أظهرت دراسة جديدة أن الديناصورات الكبيرة كانت من الحيوانات المفترسة ديناصور ريكس تم تطوير أشكال مختلفة من تجاويف العين للتعامل بشكل أفضل مع قوى العض العالية.
في العديد من الحيوانات ، بما في ذلك معظم الديناصورات ، يكون محجر العين مجرد ثقب دائري في الجمجمة ، وهو مختلف تمامًا في الحيوانات آكلة اللحوم الكبيرة.
كشفت دراسة جديدة كيف أن تجاويف العين المستطيلة أو البيضاوية غير العادية الموجودة في جماجم هذه الحيوانات المفترسة ربما تكون قد تطورت للمساعدة في امتصاص تأثيرات الجمجمة أثناء قفزها على الفريسة. هذه الدراسة من قبل العلماء جامعة برمنجهامنُشر اليوم (11 أغسطس 2022). بيولوجيا الاتصالات.
دكتور. ستيفن لادنجر ، كبير المحاضرين في علم الحفريات[{” attribute=””>University of Birmingham and author of the new study, analyzed the shape of the eye sockets of ca. 500 different dinosaurs and related species.
“The results show that only some dinosaurs had eye sockets that were elliptical or keyhole-shaped,” said Dr. Stephan Lautenschlager. “However, all of those were large, carnivorous dinosaurs with skull lengths of 1 m or more.”
Dr. Lautenschlager tested what purpose these unusual eye socket shapes could have by using computer simulations and stress analysis.
The results demonstrated that a skull with a circular eye socket was more prone to high stresses during biting. However, if these were replaced with other eye socket shapes stresses were significantly reduced. This allowed top predators, including Tyrannosaurus rex, to evolve high bite forces without compromising skull stability.
The study also showed that most plant-eating species and juvenile individuals retained a circular eye socket. Only large carnivores adopted other morphologies, such as elliptical, keyhole-shaped, or figure-of-eight-shaped eye sockets.
Dr. Lautenschlager added: “In these species, just the upper part of the eye socket was actually occupied by the eyeball. This also led to a relative reduction of eye size compared with skull size.”
The researchers also investigated what would have happened if eye size had increased at the same rate as skull length. In such a case, the eyes of Tyrannosaurus rex would have been up to 30 cm (12 inches) in diameter and weighed nearly 20 kg (44 pounds). This is instead of an estimated 13 cm (5 inches) and 2 kg (4.4 pounds).
Reference: “Functional and ecomorphological evolution of orbit shape in mesozoic archosaurs is driven by body size and diet” by Stephan Lautenschlager, 11 August 2022, Communications Biology.
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03706-0
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