Dinosaur biomechanics and palaeobiology
A skeleton of the ceratopsian dinosaur Triceratops, which lived during the upper Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago.
Palaeontology Department staff are involved in a number of projects which aim to use cutting-edge computer-based modelling and imaging techniques to provide rigorous limits on dinosaur feeding and locomotory behaviours.
Current projects:
- Evolution of ornithischian quadrupedality
Dinosaurs are primitively bipedal, but various dinosaur groups (such as ankylosaurs and ceratopsians) became secondarily quadrupedal.
This NERC-funded project aims to investigate the factors that may have led to this transition, including:- body size
- changes in body proportions
- the development of extensive armour and cranial ornamentation
- Skull mechanics in sauropodomorph dinosaurs
The group Sauropodomorpha includes the largest terrestrial herbivores of all time, yet their feeding mechanisms remain relatively poorly known.
This project aims to use Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to elucidate patterns of stress and strain within ‘prosauropod’ and sauropod skulls in order to determine the mechanical constraints on skull form and feeding in these animals.
Project collaborators:- Dr Emily Rayfield and Dr Mark Young, University of Bristol
- Prof Larry Witmer, University of Ohio
Palaeontology Department staff involved in these projects:
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Evolution of ornithischian quadrupedality
Dinosaurs are primitively bipedal. This project will investigate what factors led some groups to become quadrapedal.
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Skull mechanics in sauropodomorph dinosaurs
This project aims to determine the mechanical constraints on skull form and feeding in dinosaurs of the group Sauropodomorpha, which includes the largest terrestrial herbivores of all time.