Dinosaur with night vision similar to barn owl

Image source, Viktor Radermaker

Meet the tiny dinosaur that could see in the dark and was a lethal night time predator.

Called Shuvuuia deserti, the small bird-like dino had amazing hearing and excellent night vision similar to that of a barn owl today.

The creature lived in the deserts of Mongolia and northern China 70 million years ago, during a time known as the Cretaceous period.

"It's such a strange animal" said Roger Benson of the University of Oxford added "that palaeontologists have long wondered what it was actually doing."

Special ears and eyes

Video caption, The Big Question: What's the difference between all the dinosaur periods?

Scientists realised Shuvuuia deserti could hunt in complete darkness when they examined a ring of fossilised eye bones and another bony tube inside the creature's head.

Called the lagena, the curving and finger-like tube sits in an area next to the brain and is connected to the part of the ear that helps reptiles and birds keep balance and move their heads while walking.

The longer the lagena, the better hearing an animal has and Shuvuuia's lagena is almost identical when compared to the size of a barn owl's.

Image source, Shivan Parusnath/Wits University

Image caption, Molds of the inner ear canal from a barn owl (left) and S. deserti (right) are almost identical, suggesting that the small dinosaur had incredible hearing

The tiny eye-bones are called the scleral ring and are also seen in animals today - they suggest the dinosaur had and extra-large pupil which is great for night vision.

Shuvuuia deserti is different to lots of dinosaur predators from the time which were bigger in size.

Scientists believe most meat-eating dinosaurs had average hearing with eyesight that was better for daytime hunting.

"Like many palaeontologists, I once considered that nighttime in the age of dinosaurs was when the mammals came out of hiding," said the study's lead author, Jonah Choiniere from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

'Awkward chicken'

Image source, Mick Ellison-AMNH

Image caption, Fossilised Shuvuuia deserti skeleton, the animal lived in the deserts of Mongolia and northern China 70 million years ago

Shuvuuia didn't have the strong jaws and sharp teeth seen in the fossils of many dinosaur predators, instead it had a small and light-weight skull with many tiny teeth like sharp grains of rice.

Its small head, along with very long legs, made experts compare it to an awkward chicken. Unlike birds, it didn't have wings but short and powerful arms with a single large claw, used for digging out animals hiding underground.

"Shuvuuia might have run across the desert floor under cover of night, using its incredible hearing and night vision to track small prey such as nocturnal mammals, lizards and insects," said Choiniere.