animals with binocular vision

An international research partnership is revealing the first mosasaur fossil of its kind to be discovered in Japan. Not only does the 72-million-year-old marine reptile fossil fill a biogeographical gap between the Middle East and the eastern Pacific, but also it holds new revelations because of its superior preservation. Credit: Takuya Konishi/University of Cincinnati An international research partnership is revealing the first mosasaur fossil of its kind to be discovered in Japan. This unique swimming lizard, now believed to have hunted on glowing fish and squids at night, is detailed in an article led by Takuya Konishi, a University of Cincinnati assistant professor of biological sciences. The article is published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, a publication of the Natural History Museum in London. The fossil marine reptile, Phosphorosaurus ponpetelegans (a phosphorus lizard from an elegant creek), existed during the Late Cretaceous Period just before the last of the dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops.
Compared with some of their mosasaur cousins that could grow as large as 40 feet, this species is relatively small, about 3 meters, or 10 feet long. This unique discovery in a creek in the town of Mukawa in northern Japan reveals that they were able to colonize throughout the northern hemisphere. "Previous discoveries of this particular rare mosasaur have occurred along the East Coast of North America, the Pacific Coast of North America, Europe and North Africa, but this is the first to fill the gap between the Middle East and the Eastern Pacific," explains Konishi, a member of the research team that also was represented by the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (Canada)best magnification for binoculars bird watch, University of Alberta, Brandon University, Hobetsu Museum (Japan), Fukuoka University and the town of Mukawa.binocular sales san diego
Because the fossil was so well preserved, the creature revealed it had binocular vision - its eyes were on the front of the face, providing depth perception. This was a new discovery for this fossil species. The discovery reveals that the eye structure of these smaller mosasaurs was different from their larger cousins, whose eyes were on either side of their large heads, such as the eye structure of a horse. The eyes and heads of the larger mosasaurs were shaped to enhance streamlined swimming after prey that included fish, turtles and even small mosasaurs.best 10x50 binoculars for the money Credit: Takuya Konishi/University of Cincinnatibest night vision goggles to see ufos "The forward-facing eyes on Phosphorosaurus provide depth perception to vision, and it's common in birds of prey and other predatory mammals that dwell among us today," says Konishi. best night vision goggles to see ufos
"But we knew already that most mosasaurs were pursuit predators based on what we know they preyed upon - swimming animals. Paradoxically, these small mosasaurs like Phosphorosaurus were not as adept swimmers as their larger contemporaries because their flippers and tailfins weren't as well developed." As a result, Konishi says it's believed these smaller marine reptiles hunted at night, much like the owl does compared with the daytime birds of prey such as eagles. animals with binocular visionThe binocular vision in nocturnal animals doubles the number of photoreceptors to detect light. And, much like owls with their very large eyes to power those light receptors, the smaller mosasaur revealed very large eye sockets. Also, because fossils of lantern fish and squid-like animals have been found from the Late Cretaceous Period in northern Japan, and because their modern counterparts are bioluminescent, the researchers believe that Phosphorosaurus may have specifically targeted those glowing fish and squids at night while their larger underwater cousins hunted in daytime.
"If this new mosasaur was a sit-and-wait hunter in the darkness of the sea and able to detect the light of these other animals, that would have been the perfect niche to coexist with the more established mosasaurs," says Konishi. The calcareous nodule that enclosed the fossil. The fossil, enclosed in a rock matrix, was first discovered in 2009, in a small creek in northern Japan. Revealing what was inside the matrix while protecting the fossil was a painstaking process that took place at the Hobetsu Museum in Mukawa. The calcareous nodule would be dipped at night in a special acid wash, and then carefully rinsed the next day, as the two-year process freed the bones from the matrix. To further protect the fossil, special casts were made of the bones so that the researchers could piece together the remains without damaging the fossil. "It's so unusually well-preserved that, upon separating jumbled skull bones from one another, we were able to build a perfect skull with the exception of the anterior third of the snout," says Konishi.
"This is not a virtual reality reconstruction using computer software. It's a physical reconstruction that came back to life to show astounding detail and beautiful, undistorted condition." Prehistoric sea lizard pulled from skeletons in closet> Making noisesEye socketsBinocular vision of modern animalsBinocular vision of the dinosaursPeripheral vision of modern animalsPeripheral vision of the dinosaursPerhaps the most difficult part of dinosaurs’ make-up to study is their senses. Were they slow and stupid, or were they alert and intelligent? Delicate organs such as brains and nerves do not fossilize well, and the bones associated with the sense organs are difficult to interpret. For example, it is impossible to find out about a dinosaur’s senses of taste or smell – structures in the nasal cavities may be to do with either smelling or breathing. However, it is possible to make educated guesses about how a dinosaur sensory system would have worked.Making noisesIn the Cretaceous, a very interesting group of dinosaurs, the hadrosaurs (“duckbilled dinosaurs”), used their skulls to communicate.
It seems very likely that the duckbills had a good sense of hearing, because the skulls look as though they belonged to animals that made plenty of noise. Parasaurolophus had a crest that consisted of tubes connected to the nostrils. Scientists’ tests show that air blown through the crest would have made a noise like a trombone. Duckbills with no crests may have had a flap of skin over their broad beaks that was inflated to make a noise, like the throat-pouch of a bullfrog.Eye socketsSome dinosaurs, particularly those with big eyes, had a ring of tiny bones inside the eye. This is called the sclerotic ring. Many modern birds have this. It helps to support the eye and also helps it to focus or pinpoint something it is looking at. Sea reptiles of the Mesozoic had heavy sclerotic rings to protect their eyes from the pressure of the water. Dinosaurs that had a sclerotic ring probably had very sharp eyesight.Binocular vision of modern animalsHunting animals like birds of prey and people can see in three dimensions.
Look at an object with only one eye, then the other. The object’s position will appear to change slightly. A person’s brain, and that of a bird of prey, can compare the binocular (two-eyed) images and use them to work out how far away the object is – useful if the object is moving prey. Several of the hunting dinosaurs may have had this ability.Binocular vision of the dinosaursThe most famous dinosaur with binocular vision is the turkey-sized carnivore Troodon. Its eyes pointed forwards, although not as much as those of a modern cat or bird of prey. It also had a big brain for a dinosaur – almost as big as the brain of a modern running bird such as an emu. This would not necessarily have meant that it was very intelligent, but it would have had enough brain power to process the three-dimensional images that it received from its binocular vision.Peripheral vision of modern animalsA herbivore such as a horse does not need binocular vision. It finds it more useful to have a wide view of everything around it – mainly so that it can see any danger coming while it is eating.