The Cousin of the Velociraptor Had a Keen Nose to Sniff Out and Hunt Prey

A certain dinosaur that was closely related to Velociraptor may have had a keen sense of smell that caused it to be a formidable predator. The new species may tell researchers a bit more about this group of dinosaurs.

The specimen is about 75 million years old and was discovered in New Mexico in 1999. When it was first described, though, researchers thought it was a member of Saurornitholestes langstoni, a species of theropod dinosaurs that had been found in present-day Alberta, Canada.

New analysis, though, reveals that this isn't the case. Researchers discovered that the surface of the specimen's skull corresponding with the brain's olfactory bulb was unusually large. This hints that the dinosaur had a powerful sense of smell.

"This feature means that Saurornitholestes sullivani had a relatively better sense of smell than other dromaeosaurid dinosaurs, including Velociraptor, Dromaesaurus and Bambiraptor," said Steven Jasinski, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This keen olfaction may have made S. sullivani an intimidating predator as well."

This species comes from a time period at the end of the era of the dinosaurs, known as the Late Cretaceous. During this period, North America was split into two continents, separated by an inland sea. The dinosaur lived and thrived on the western shores in an area called Laramidia.

The dinosaur is less than three feet at its hip and roughly six feet in length. However, this animal was likely agile and fast, and may have hunted in packs, using its keen sense of smell in order to track down prey.

The findings are reported in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).