Jul.31, 2012
The eating habits of Diplodocus, one of the longest known dinosaur - about 30 meters in length and weighing around 15 tonnes, have been revealed by scientists using CT scans and biomechanical modelling.
(CREDIT: ©AMNH/D. Finnin)
There has been great debate about how Diplodocus, which lived around 150 million years ago, ate those large quantities of plants since its discovery over 130 years ago. To find out the answer, a team of international researchers, led by the University of Bristol and the Natural History Museum, used data from a CT scan and created a 3D model of a complete Diplodocus skull.
With the help of finite element analysis (FEA) — an imaging technology used in designing aeroplanes to orthopaedic implants, the model was analysed and digitally tested.
Paleontologist Mark Young at the University of Edinburgh and co-authors revealed the stresses on the dinosaur skull from three different eating behaviours: a normal bite, branch stripping and bark stripping.
The CT scans showed Diplodocus' skull received stress around the teeth and below the eye socket during normal vertical biting and stripping leaves from branches. However this stress wasn't enough to be unsafe for the bone.
The team says the teeth were used to grip rather than shear through vegetation, which would then be detached from the plant by pulling away or rotating the head, like a modern-day giraffe for instance.
The bark stripping scenario, however, produced much more stress in the same areas, especially around the teeth. These bones would not have been able to withstand the forces applied when stripping bark from trees.
(Red, orange, yellow, green, then light blue indicate the greater stress credit: nhm)
The CT scan data also shows how many replacement teeth are behind each tooth, usually four," Young said. "These animals would have been constantly replacing teeth, possibly as frequently as every month."
The study was published in Naturwissenschaften, a natural sciences journal.
Source: nhm
Posted in 3D Scanning
Maybe you also like:
- Anarkik3D launches Cloud9 - a 3D modeling platform with 3D touch feedback
- Progress on 3D Printed circuit board
- Voxeljet introduces first continuous 3D printing machine
- Designer lamps from 3D printers
- Home 3D Scanning with X box Kinect
- Personalised 3D printed Scrappies is now on Indiegogo
- More progress with multicolored printing
- Custom your own 3D printed iPhone case with Kees
- New Maxit 3D printer will be launched soon
- Step by step tutorial to fix a 3D scan for 3D printing
- Precise offers a scaled likeness 3D model of the individual in Dubai
- 3D scanning and printing of the ancient Chinese artefacts in the Forbidden City
- A nice video on the "3D printing today and tomorrow" made by Chris Barnett
- 3D-print your head to pop on your favourite superhero action figure
- MatterPort's scanner makes 3D capture as digital photography
- Audi to come out of a 3D printer
- Fly 3D printers to Mars and print out spacecraft
- Build a heated build chamber for Rapman 3D printer
- Replacing parts of a 168-year-old conformateur with 3D printer
- 3D Printed DoodleBot makes graphics and patterns on a whiteboard
- Basic and complete Resin-based 3D Printer kit ready for pre-order
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
