Inaccurate Portrayal of the Dinosaur Face :: Anthropology Essays Paleontology Papers

Inaccurate Portrayal of the Dinosaur Face As time goes on, Paleontologists discover more than and more fogy remains, and with that more and more information about dinosaurs. Yet even with the great deal of fossils that have been discovered in the past century, scientists are lock forced to make educated guesses about certain dinosaur behaviors, traits, and appearance. Dr. Lawrence Witmers recent research addresses this issue. Dr. Witmer argues that the fleshy nostril of dinosaurs lies in a different place than has been mistaken and portrayed for over the last one hundred years.Dr. Witmers discovery was published in the August issue of Science magazine in 2001 and may change how we envision dinosaurs forever. Movies like Jurassic Park and the BBCs Walking with Dinosaurs portray dinosaurs with fleshy nostrils which lie very high on their head. Not besides in popular media is this true but in sculptures, kids books and scholarly journals.How could so many scientists have been wrong for so long? Very easily. When a dinosaur fossil is discovered it has an extremely large nasal cavity in its skull, sometimes several feet in length. Since flesh does not preserve all too hale over the course of millions of years, paleontologists have been forced to make an educated guess as to where the fleshy nostril lies within the larger nasal cavity.Since the 1880s scientists simulated that the nostril existed near the top of the head. The reason for this is that when sauropods (long necked dinosaurs) were discovered, it was thought that they must live under water in order to avoid crushing themselves under their own weight. This would explain their long necks. It would overly follow that the fleshy nostril would be near the top of the head so the creatures could breathe easily composition their bodies were under water. Even after it was realized these dinosaurs did not live under the water, the idea that the fleshy nostril existed near the top of the head pe rsisted. The idea was also spread to most other dinosaurs that were discovered thereafter. Perhaps you have noticed this in a drawing or movie, that Tyrannosaurus Rexs large nostrils do not lie in the front of his face but instead halfway up his head.Witmer believes his years of research with his DinoNose project prove that dinosaurs fleshy nostrils in truth exist on the front end of the nasal cavity instead of the back end as was once believed.