- Scientists simulate dinosaur’s eating habits using 3D image of skull
- Discovery appears to have ended 130-year mystery
With its 170-feet-long, 12-tonne body, the giant Diplodocus was a dinosaur with a big appetite.
And now scientists believe they have finally worked out how the huge sauropod satisfied its hunger – by clamping its giant jaws onto trees and stripping entire branches of leaves.
The eating habits of the Diplodocus – the longest creature to ever walk the earth – has never been properly understood since its discovery 130 years ago.
Big Appetite: The Diplodocus stripped entire branches clean of leaves while grazing (seen here in the 1993 film Jurassic Park)
One school of thought was that it would strip bark from trees by closing its jaws around the trunk.
A second was it would grip branches and strip them of their foliage.
But now researchers from the University of Bristol, Natural History Museum of London, the University of Missouri and Ohio University say a 3D model of the dinosaur’s skull has provided the answer.
