A team of paleontologists from the University of St. Petersburg has created a three-dimensional “digital mold” of the brain box of an ankylosaurus from the Jurassic era , the area of protective covering around the brain that serves as a buffer between it and the skull. The map includes parts of the brain and blood vessels found at the base of the skull of an ankylosaurus ( Bissektipelta archibaldi) , a type of herbivorous dinosaur similar in appearance to modern armadillos or turtles.
These animals that roamed the planet during the middle of the Jurassic period about 160 million years ago, thrived until the end of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
The experts turned to the well-preserved remains of ankylosaurs found decades ago in the town of Dzharakuduk in Uzbekistan. They examined three skull fragments found during these excavations to create a “digital cast” of the brain cage using computed tomography (CT), a method that uses X-rays to process data and produce an image. The three-year project resulted in the first three-dimensional computer reconstruction of an endocast – the internal mold of a hollow object – made in Russia, revealing how large the animal’s brain was and where its components were housed. vessels and nerve s. Among other unique traits, the results suggest that the dinosaur was capable of “cooling its brain in the literal sense.”
“The network of veins and arteries in his head turned out to be very complicated: they were not going in one direction, but were constantly communicating with each other, like a railroad system. The blood could have moved in different directions and been redistributed while maintaining the optimal brain temperature of the animal, “said Ivan Kuzmin, co-author of the work.
“For example, if the top of an ankylosaurus head was heated, the vessels would rapidly deflect the warm blood creating a sensing effect, as if a dinosaur were wearing a sun hat. In addition, the endocranial vasculature of ankylosaurs turned out to be more similar to the vessels of current lizards than that of the closest relatives of dinosaurs: crocodiles or birds. “
Experts hope to study the skulls of other ankylosaur species to confirm these findings.
