Dinosaur vision off topic:
They have decided that dinosaurs could see as we cannot. (Marie-Claire Koschowitz et al., Beyond the Rainbow, Science vol. 346 no. 6208 Ocotober 24, 2014 page 416) In fact most modern reptiles have better color vision and can distinguish colors better than mammals. How embarrassing. Also, the dinosaurs could see in ultraviolet.
Now that one amazes me. I though visible light was where the most energy came to earth, so we were fine tuned to it. I doubt the sun has changed a lot over the millions of years since dinosaurs, although I have not heard an authority pronounce on that one. Maybe it’s the air. Maybe more ultraviolet reached the earth but is now filtered out by the ozone layer.
I remember many years ago when they first suggested that birds were descended from dinosaurs. I thought it would have been marvelous to see those giants strutting around in brilliant plumage. Now it is no longer a joke. Apparently they think that along with an insulating function dinosaur feathers were indeed involved in spectacular displays.
My big brother, on the other hand, told me that was why they had gone extinct. Early each morning they would sing so much that our ancestors couldn’t sleep in, so they went out and killed them off.
Superb vision might have given them an advantage in navigating at night. Modern astronomic techniques have shown there is a lot of color up there, just very dim. What we see are stars, and you just about have to memorize them in order to get much use out of them. But if the night sky were a blaze of colored patterns it might be a lot easier to navigate by.
How strange that we are still learning about dinosaurs. I thought that the book on them was closed when I was a child.
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