This dino that might've used its super smell to find food from kilometres away

Picture a time when chaos reigned supreme, survival meant being born where food was plentiful, and threats were scarce. Despite defying the odds and thriving alongside fearsome predators like the Tyrannosaurus, palaeontologists dismiss you as the "overlooked lizard."

Meet Thescelosaurus neglectus, a 12-foot-long herbivore that roamed North America 66 million years ago, just before the last Cretaceous mass extinction. Weighing in at 340 kilograms, T. neglectus seemed like your average herbivore, nothing extraordinary.

Not particularly exceptional in many aspects, T. neglectus could only hear a fraction of human frequencies, around 15%, and a mere 4-7% of what modern dogs and cats can detect, as per skull analyses. However, delving into the soft tissues of Willo's brain, a fossilised T. neglectus, revealed a surprising combination of senses.

Contrary to its unassuming exterior, Thescelosaurus boasted well-developed olfactory bulbs, surpassing all other known dinosaurs. Comparable to today's alligators, known for detecting a drop of blood from kilometres away, this heightened sense of smell turned these seemingly "bland" creatures into super-sensors.

Rather than wreaking havoc, T. neglectus utilised its extraordinary sense of smell to locate buried plant foods like roots and tubers. Its impressive sense of balance likely aided in navigating its body position while burrowing underground.

While it remains speculative, Willo and its kin might have spent considerable time beneath the surface, supported by their exceptional sense of smell, balance, and robust limbs. This sheds new light on the possibility of dinosaurs coexisting with giants like T. rex and Triceratops, challenging the notion that T. neglectus was dull, as Lindsay Zanno, a co-author of the study, asserts.

The findings of this study have been published in Scientific Reports and can be accessed here.