Research shows that 'living fortress' dinosaurs lived alone and deaf

New research shows that the typical Struthiosaurus dinosaur lived a slow, solitary life, with little mobility and poor hearing.

The study was conducted based on cortical fossils of a Struthiosaurus dinosaur that lived about 80 million years ago, CNN reported on January 20.

Image simulated dinosaur Struthiosaurus.

The results show that the Struthiosaurus dinosaur can be up to 2.7 m long, relatively small compared to other dinosaurs of the same family. The dinosaur Struthiosaurus had spiked armor covering its neck, shoulders, and back. Because of this armor, Struthiosaurus is dubbed by scientists as a "living fortress".

Struthiosaurus individuals were passive, moving very slowly, they were not aggressive predators, instead defending themselves to survive, said paleontologist Marco Schade of the University of Greifswald.

"While some relatives used tail spines for self-defense, Struthiosaurus mainly relied on distinctive armor," Schade said.

Struthiosaurus had the shortest cochlea of ​​any dinosaur studied. The cochlea is the part deep in the ear that helps animals hear sounds. Because of the short cochlea, the dinosaur Struthiosaurus had very poor hearing.

"These observations suggest that Struthiosaurus is an adapted species with a relatively passive lifestyle and limited social interaction," the study authors said.

Dinosaurs are species that often live and move in groups. But because of poor hearing, Struthiosaurus species often lived alone, living mainly in coastal areas.

However, the dinosaur Struthiosaurus still had the ability to hear sounds from its fellows. Similar to modern sea turtles. This species only communicates by sound when absolutely necessary.