A study by a team of Ohio University researchers discovered through digital technology that the Allosaurus, a relative of the T. Rex, may have eaten its prey like a modern-day falcon, reported WOUB Media.
The team used a CT Scanner to create a digital model of the skull and neck of the dinosaur taken from a fossil.
The scans were done on a 150 million year old Allosaurus skeleton collected from the late Jurassic Morrison Formation known as "Big Al," according to Ohio University.
The team then used computer modeling to add their best idea of soft tissue and muscle to the computerized skeleton.
The team also recreated sinuses and airways to arrive at a realistic idea of the mass of the various parts and the size of the muscles.
They then used an approach often used for robotics known as multibody dynamics to recreate how the dinosaur moved. They focused on how the Allosaurus attacked and stripped flesh from its prey.
"They used these very complicated math and engineering algorithms to in sense run simulations to see what different conformations of the anatomy related to different functional movements," said Ohio University Paleontology Professor Lawrence Witmer. "Particularly what we were interested in was how these animals could move their heads and necks around and how they actually stripped flesh from a carcass."
The study revealed that the placement of air-filled areas such as sinuses and the bonier regions of the head gave the dinosaur a very flexible neck that could be swiveled in all directions. The head of the Allosaurus is much lighter and more flexible than his relative, the T. Rex.
An unusual muscle in the neck of the Allosaurus was also discovered, which may mean that the dinosaur used a back-and-up tugging motion like a bird-of-prey, instead of the lateral shake similar to an alligators that was believed to be used by other predatory dinosaurs such as the T. RexThe team plans to apply the same study to other dinosaurs to discover their feeding styles.
