Meet Shuvuuia (shoo-VOO-ee-ah), a tiny dinosaur that may have been one of the Cretaceous’ most capable nighttime hunters. Shuvuuia lived about 70 million years ago in what is now Mongolia. Only around two feet long, it had long legs, a lightweight body, and unusual arms, each ending in one large functional claw. Its skull, is what makes this dinosaur especially interesting. You could say it had good head. Fossil evidence points to adaptations for both vision and hearing. Its eye sockets and sclerotic rings (big word!) are consistent with low-light vision, while the shape of its inner ear suggests strong auditory abilities. Basically this is cool because some of these features resemble those of modern nocturnal birds, including barn owls, although fossils cannot reveal exactly how well Shuvuuia could see or hear. This combination is actually very unusual among dinosaurs. Based on its anatomy, researchers have proposed that Shuvuuia may have hunted insects and other small prey at night, using sound to help locate them and its visual adaptations to navigate in dim conditions. Still, this remains an interpretation rather than something the fossils can prove directly. However, all of these theories is what makes learning about dinosaurs all the more interesting, or at least to me it does! While much larger dinosaurs roamed Mongolia, this little hunter may have spent its nights chasing insects through the desert. This little dude was a prehistoric roadrunner with some owl-like hunting adaptations. #parmasdailydinofact

Today’s dinosaur is Masiakasaurus knopfleri (mah-SHEE-ah-kah-SORE-us), a small carnivorous dinosaur that lived in Madagascar around 70 million years ago. It was about 6 feet long, roughly the size of a large dog if you include its long tail, and had one of the strangest sets of teeth ever discovered in a dinosaur and no it’s not British. Unlike most meat-eating dinosaurs, whose teeth pointed downward or backward, Masiakasaurus had front teeth that actually projected forward, almost horizontally out of its mouth. Scientists believe these unusual teeth helped it grab smaller prey, possibly fish, although its exact diet is still debated. When paleontologists first discovered its jawbone, they weren’t even sure it belonged to a dinosaur because the teeth were so unusual. My favorite part is how it got its name. The species was named after Mark Knopfler, guitarist and singer of Dire Straits. The paleontologists excavating its fossils regularly played his music in the field and noticed they seemed to have particularly good luck finding fossils whenever Dire Straits was playing. So they named an entirely new dinosaur after him. Turns out you really can get your dinos for nothing and your fossils for free. #parmasdailydinofact