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New Study Shows Tyrannosaurus Rex Evolved Advanced Bird-Like Binocular Vision
Science News Online ^ | June 26 2006 | Eric Jbaffe

Posted on 07/03/2006 12:32:51 PM PDT by Al Simmons

In the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, one human character tells another that a Tyrannosaurus rex can't see them if they don't move, even though the beast is right in front of them. Now, a scientist reports that T. rex had some of the best vision in animal history. This sensory prowess strengthens arguments for T. rex's role as predator instead of scavenger.

Scientists had some evidence from measurements of T. rex skulls that the animal could see well. Recently, Kent A. Stevens of the University of Oregon in Eugene went further.

He used facial models of seven types of dinosaurs to reconstruct their binocular range, the area viewed simultaneously by both eyes. The wider an animal's binocular range, the better its depth perception and capacity to distinguish objectseven those that are motionless or camouflaged.

T. rex had a binocular range of 55, which is wider than that of modern hawks, Stevens reports in the summer Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Moreover, over the millennia, T. rex evolved features that improved its vision: Its snout grew lower and narrower, cheek grooves cleared its sight lines, and its eyeballs enlarged. ...

Stevens also considered visual acuity and limiting far pointthe greatest distance at which objects remain distinct. For these vision tests, he took the known optics of reptiles and birds, ranging from the poor-sighted crocodile to the exceptional eagle, and adjusted them to see how they would perform inside an eye as large as that of T. rex. "With the size of its eyeballs, it couldn't help but have excellent vision," Stevens says.

He found that T. rex might have had visual acuity as much as 13 times that of people. By comparison, an eagle's acuity is 3.6 times that of a person.

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T. rex might also have had a limiting far point of 6 kilometers, compared with the human far point of 1.6 km. These are best-case estimates, Stevens says, but even toward the cautious end of the scale, T. rex still displays better vision than what's needed for scavenging.

The vision argument takes the scavenger-versus-predator debate in a new direction. The debate had focused on whether T. rex's legs and teeth made it better suited for either lifestyle.

Stevens notes that visual ranges in hunting birds and snapping turtles typically are 20 wider than those in grain-eating birds and herbivorous turtles.

In modern animals, predators have better binocular vision than scavengers do, agrees Thomas R. Holtz Jr. of the University of Maryland at College Park. Binocular vision "almost certainly was a predatory adaptation," he says.

But a scavenging T. rex could have inherited its vision from predatory ancestors, says Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont. "It isn't a characteristic that was likely to hinder the scavenging abilities of T. rex and therefore wasn't selected out of the population," Horner says.

Stevens says the unconvincing scene in Jurassic Park inspired him to examine T. rex's vision because, with its "very sophisticated visual apparatus," the dinosaur couldn't possibly miss people so close by. Sight aside, says Stevens, "if you're sweating in fear 1 inch from the nostrils of the T. rex, it would figure out you were there anyway."

Stevens, K.A. 2006. Binocular vision in theropod dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(June):321-330.


TOPICS: Religion; Science
KEYWORDS: atheismsucks; atheistdarwinists; bewareofluddites; creationism; crevolist; darwindroolbib; darwinwasaloser; dinosaurs; evolution; flyingbrickbats; godsgravesglyphs; guess; heroworship; ignoranceisstrength; junk; paleontology; patrickhenrycrap; pavlovian; pavlovianevos; shakyfaithchristians; trash; trex; tyrannosaurus; useyourimagination; yecluddites; youngearthcultists; youngearthidiocy
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To: Elsie
Some say - "Prove that they accumulate." - don't just make a statement saying that they do.

If you had read the article I linked to, you would know that it demonstrated the accumulation of adaptive mutations -- by direct, detailed observation.

681 posted on 07/11/2006 9:13:37 AM PDT by js1138 (Well I say there are some things we don't want to know! Important things!")
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To: Elsie
"ARRGH!!! You got 666!!!"

That was by design.

< wink >

682 posted on 07/11/2006 12:52:17 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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Placemarker
683 posted on 07/11/2006 5:45:28 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman (Gas up your tanks!!)
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To: js1138
I merely said that evolution works on small changes at a time.

And this can be proven how? Why on small changes? Is this because it is the only answer to evolution? I believe so. By making it happen over millions of years anything can be interjected into the program at any time and the populace is supposed to be in awe how learned people can reach such hypothesis.

684 posted on 07/11/2006 9:28:55 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Never forget Matt Maupin)
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To: js1138

If you had read the article I linked to, you would know that it demonstrated the accumulation of adaptive mutations -- by direct, detailed observation.

 
 
 
You are right; I have not read the article you linked to.  (I've just skimmed over stuff that has acculated over the last week I've been off-line.)
 
Post it again, as I've gotten tangled in that math stuff a few replies back.
 
But I HAVE read the article that starts this thread, and found this...
 
He found that T. rex might have had visual acuity as much as 13 times that of people. By comparison, an eagle's acuity is 3.6 times that of a person.
 
T. rex might also have had a limiting far point of 6 kilometers, compared with the human far point of 1.6 km. These are best-case estimates, Stevens says, but even toward the cautious end of the scale, T. rex still displays better vision than what's needed for scavenging.
 
Now, why isn't the CAUTIOUS end of the scales DATA presented?
What are the WORST 'estimates'?
He don't say....
 

I just wonder:  Which EYES are best - the ones that can FIND food; or the ones than can avoid BEING food??
 
 

685 posted on 07/12/2006 11:31:04 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: Elsie
"I just wonder: Which EYES are best - the ones that can FIND food; or the ones than can avoid BEING food??"

Heh-heh. Once again mixing up two different things that have to be independently evaluated, eh? Apples and oranges?

Kinds like evolution vs. ID?

'Best' is totally relative in your comparison.

Predators have eyes facing forward (TRex, birds of prey). The binocular aspect thus gained helps them identify movement and judge distances. Generally their vision is pretty good, for the same reasons.

Herbivores like Triceratops, for example, often have eyes on the sides. What they lose in depth perception they gain in having a much wider field of vision, reducing the chance that a predator can ambush them from behind (obviously identifying movement is also important for the same reason).

So, in terms of which vision is 'best', it all depends on what you are looking for - distance and depth, or breadth. both have their advantages, depending on whether you are the 'chomper' or the 'chompee'...

686 posted on 07/20/2006 10:24:10 AM PDT by Al Simmons (Hillary Clinton is Stalin in a Dress)
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To: Al Simmons
So, in terms of which vision is 'best', it all depends on what you are looking for - distance and depth, or breadth. both have their advantages, depending on whether you are the 'chomper' or the 'chompee'...

Indeed.

I wonder when the little chompee decided he/she/it wasn't gonna take it any more and started to be the chomper?

687 posted on 07/20/2006 1:03:37 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Note: this topic is from July 30, 2006.

Blast from the Past.

Since I'm wingin' it, I'm pingin' it.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


688 posted on 10/11/2009 6:34:55 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: Valpal1

[or Man is right and life on earth evolved over time and God had nothing to do with it.]

But I believe in evolution as designed by God, and I believe in good and evil. I don’t see the either or pronouncement as meaningful. God created things however he pleased, and then gave us minds to figure things out.

By the way, how do you explain the speed of light and the 13 billion year age of the universe?


689 posted on 10/11/2009 7:46:13 PM PDT by FastCoyote (I am intolerant of the intolerable.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Dinosaurs, the new Neanderthals : )


690 posted on 10/11/2009 7:48:02 PM PDT by Fractal Trader
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To: Fractal Trader

;’)


691 posted on 10/11/2009 8:00:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: FastCoyote
But I believe in evolution as designed by God, and I believe in good and evil. I don’t see the either or pronouncement as meaningful.

That's because you are ignoring the "wages of sin is death" paradox. If evolution is true then eons of death occurred before the fall. So if the Fall did not cause death to enter creation, then Christ lied and He died for nothing because death cannot be defeated because under your belief system God designed death as a part of evolution. You're also ignoring God's own account of how He made Creation. So to say that you believe in God, but not what He says He did, well, that's not belieft, that's lip service. It lets you control who God on your terms instead of believing in Him on His terms.

692 posted on 10/11/2009 8:20:13 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: FastCoyote
By the way, how do you explain the speed of light and the 13 billion year age of the universe? That man is often wrong and proven so often. I merely assume that once again man thinks he knows something that just isn't so and eventually it will get sorted out (but probably not by scientists who are invested in a theory because it lets them explain God away).
693 posted on 10/11/2009 8:27:07 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Always be prepared to make that difference.)
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To: Southack

Genetics is one of the most elegant and beautiful of God’s creations.


694 posted on 10/11/2009 10:45:37 PM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: SunkenCiv
Wow, all this fighting over whether T-Rex liked fresh food or leftovers.
695 posted on 10/12/2009 10:44:06 AM PDT by colorado tanker (I humbly accept this award of Hero of the Russian Federation)
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To: CarolinaGuitarman; Southack

Got it covered.

696 posted on 10/12/2009 11:14:34 AM PDT by refreshed
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To: CarolinaGuitarman; Southack

I didn’t look at the date of the article I was pinged to! Hahahahahaha. I just replied to a 3 year old post. Wow! Sorry, unreply...unreply...unreply.


697 posted on 10/12/2009 11:15:52 AM PDT by refreshed
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To: Al Simmons; SunkenCiv

Oh, Mr. Rex, what big eyes with a binocular range you have.

The better to see you, you scrumptious little morsel... er...my dear.


698 posted on 10/12/2009 12:54:58 PM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: Al Simmons

Take THAT Horner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


699 posted on 10/13/2009 9:37:18 AM PDT by ZULU (God guts and guns made America great. Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.)
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To: Parmy

Not important at all.

We should burn all the mounted fossils, bulldoze the Museums and destroy all books and literature on Dinosaurs, while stopping all funding and support for paleontological research.

Happy now???


700 posted on 10/13/2009 9:39:39 AM PDT by ZULU (God guts and guns made America great. Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.)
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