Some dinosaurs hunted at night, study claims

[Still Waters]

Some dinosaurs did their hunting at night, new research suggests.

Studies of the eyes of existing birds and reptiles with different daily activity patterns were compared with similar parts in dinosaur fossils.

The results suggests that small, meat-eating dinosaurs were nocturnal; large, plant-eating dinosaurs tended to forage both during the day and at night.

The Science study also challenges the notion that mammals' nocturnal nature evolved to avoid day-active dinosaurs.

Lars Schmitz and Ryosuke Motani of the University of California Davis have been looking at the eye parts of dinosaurs, and their modern-day descendants the lizards and birds, for a number of years.

They have been trying to determine just how big and how light-sensitive dinosaurs' eyes would have been.

That in turn would be an indication of whether they were active at night; until now the assumption has been that dinosaurs were diurnal, or primarily active in the daytime only.

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[aquatus1]

Huh.

I just kinda took that for granted.

[Copasetic]

Huh.

I just kinda took that for granted.

Me too, I think nocturnal activity probably came pretty early on in metazoan history.

[puridalan]

Okay, so to me common sense would say DUH of course animals hunted at night...if any animal in general is a predator..if times are hard they are going to hunt no matter what dam time of day it is, especially the more coverage they can get the better!!

I remember a few years ago learning in psychology/bio class about how certain animals sleep more than others based on security, ie a horse sleeps barely at all believe it or not, while a bat sleeps most of the day/night. So it also depends on how set you are, I think survival or for survivals sake animals that were more forest eaters would have to take naps and less long breaks or else they would have a better chance of being eaten. That's just my opinion though.

Edited April 15, 2011 by puridalan

[:PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR:]

When it comes to things that goes bump in the night, I really wouldn't want to come face to face with carnivorous dinosaur.

[manticor225]

Ok... I just assumed this would be common sense. Why would anyone assume that no dinosaurs were nocturnal? It's like saying "study reveals some dinosaurs may have been multi-colored." I don't need a study to tell me these things. Guess I'm just ranting now, sorry!

[danielost]

Me too, I think nocturnal activity probably came pretty early on in metazoan history.

i would bet that the first land animals were nocturnal. that is if you believe in that kind of thing. think about the longer your in the sun the dryer you will be.

[Dakras]

There is evidence that dinosaurs were warm blooded animals that didn't need the sun to warm them as they had similar metabolism to mammals ( look at birds their living descendants, they're warm blooded). It makes sense that they would be active during the night too!