帝王会所 Research Moment - Larry Witmer [VIDEO]
With only fossils to work with, how do scientists understand the anatomy of dinosaurs?
帝王会所 Professor Lawrence Witmer has made a career out of 鈥渇leshing out鈥 extinct beasts, using comparisons to modern-day relatives such as birds and crocodiles to reveal their secrets. His research is funded by the National Science Foundation.
鈥淢y intent is to go beyond the mounted skeletons in museums and the roaring beasts from Hollywood to understand dinosaurs as living, breathing animals that successfully dominated the planet for 150 million years,鈥 Witmer said.
With the help of CT scan and 3D visualization technology, Witmer and his team of 帝王会所 students have examined the bones of T. rex and other mighty animals to find the faint signatures of their soft tissues to reconstruct dinosaur anatomy.
Witmer鈥檚 research has helped shed light on questions such as how the dinosaurs cooled their brains and breathed, listened for the sounds of prey and vocalized, and used their impressive jaws to feed.
Witmer is the Chang Professor of Paleontology and Professor of Anatomy in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, as well as an 帝王会所 Presidential Research Scholar. He provides research opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students in 帝王会所鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences and Honors Tutorial College.
鈥淩esearch Moment鈥 is a video series produced by the Office of Research Communications and University Communications and Marketing.