What did dinosaur cries sound like?

Dinosaur cries remain a fascinating mystery, primarily because the cartilaginous nature of their vocal organs does not fossilize. However, researchers have explored various approaches to understand what these sounds might have been like, relying on the closest living descendants of dinosaurs, birds.

According to several studies, dinosaurs, particularly large specimens like Tyrannosaurus Rex, probably produced sounds with their mouths closed, resembling deep cooing, similar to that of a giant pigeon, rather than the fearsome roars popularized in films. This hypothesis stems from the analysis of the vocal organs of modern birds, which share a common evolutionary path with dinosaurs. Paleontologists have also compared dinosaur bone structures with those of modern animals, such as reptiles, to better understand the diversity of their sounds.

Other dinosaurs, like Parasaurolophus, had hollow cranial structures that, when blown into, produced sounds similar to a bagpipe or a jug. Some theropods, from which modern birds descended, might have even had an organ similar to the syrinx, allowing them to produce a wide variety of sounds.

Finally, the largest dinosaurs might have emitted infrasounds, detectable only over long distances or by specific species. These findings suggest that, far from the thunderous cries imagined, dinosaur sounds were likely varied and often subtle, adapted to their environment and their communication needs, such as defending territory or finding mates.

This vocal diversity reflects the immense variety in the forms and sizes of dinosaurs, which evolved over nearly 180 million years.

Source(s) : Geo.fr, Caminteresse.fr

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18/09/2024