Washington, Oct 29 : Scientists at the University of Calgary (U of C) and the Royal Tyrrell Museum are providing new insight into the sense of smell of carnivorous dinosaurs, as part of a new study, which found that Tyrannosaurus rex had the best nose of all meat-eating dinosaurs.

The study, by U of C paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky and Royal Tyrrell Museum curator of dinosaur palaeoecology Francois Therrien, is the first time that the sense of smell has been evaluated in prehistoric meat-eating dinosaurs.

They found that Tyrannosaurus rex had the best nose of all meat-eating dinosaurs, and their results tone down the reputation of T. rex as a scavenger.

The researchers looked at the importance of the sense of smell among various meat-eating dinosaurs, also called theropods, based on the size of their olfactory bulbs, the part of the brain associated with the sense of smell.

Although the brains of dinosaurs are not preserved, the impressions they left on skull bones or the space they occupied in the skull reveals the size and shape of the different parts of the brain.

Zelenitsky and Therrien CT-scanned and measured the skulls of a wide variety of theropod

dinosaurs, including raptors and ostrich-like dinosaurs, as well as the primitive bird Archaeopteryx.

“T. rex has previously been accused of being a scavenger due to its keen sniffer, although its nose may point to alternative lifestyles based on what we see in living animals,” said Zelenitsky, the lead investigator on the study.

“Although the king of carnivorous dinosaurs wouldn’t have passed on scavenging a free dead meal, it may have used its sense of smell to strike at night or to navigate through large territories to find its next victim,” he added.

In addition to providing clues about the biology and behavior of the ancient predators, the study also reveals some surprising information about the sense of smell in the ancestors of modern birds. (ANI)