T rex & smell

[Ken Carpenter <KCarpenter@dmns.org>]

Without mentioning names, it has argued that the large olfactory bulbs on the 
endocast of T rex indicate a well developed sense of smell, and that therefore 
T rex could smell carrion a long ways (to simplify, a cast of the brain cavity 
shows the region of smell to be very large). One problem with the claim is that 
no comparisons were made with other dinosaurs to determine whether T rex is 
abnormal in this regards. Having just finished the endocast of Camptosaurus, it 
has huge olfactories as well. In fact, they are twice as wide as the brain 
portion. We could argue as to why an ornithopod has such well developed sense 
of smell, but obviously there is more to it than locating carrion.
Ken

Kenneth Carpenter, Ph.D.
Curator of Lower Vertebrate Paleontology &
Chief Preparator
Dept. of Earth Sciences
Denver Museum of Natural History 
2001 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80205

Phone: (303)370-6392
Fax: (303)331-6492
email: KCarpenter@DMNS.org

For fun: http://dino.lm.com/artists/display.php?name=Kcarpenter