Sounding it off

-- (Credit: Vishwajyoti)WITH the recent finding of a rare
dinosaur fossil, scientists at the Sandia
National Laboratory in Albuquerque,
New Mexico, are trying to create a
sound that may resemble the call of the
dinosaur. Sounds of roars, screeches
and grunts of celluloid dinosaurs have been dismissed by palaeontologists as
mere works of art rather than an imitation of the original.

The fossil of Parasaurolophus, a
plant-eating dinosaur, was discovered in
northwestern New Mexico, by Robert A
Sullivan, curator, State Museum of
Pennsylvania and Thomas E Williamson,
curator, New Mexico Museum of
Natural History. The fossil consisted of
a tubular crest which extended some
four and half feet from the top of the
head. The crest, shaped like a trombone,
apparently contained a maze of air cavities which could have helped the
dinosaur produce several sounds, surmise the scientists. A powerful computer
at Sandea will help them in their
endeavour of producing the possible
repertoire of dinosaur sounds.