Biologists weighed a dinosaur with 3DsMax

Skeleton Sofushki

Biologists from the London National History Museum conducted a highly accurate prediction of the weight of a dinosaur based on a three-dimensional computer simulation. "Experimental" made uniquely preserved skeg of a stegosaurus - these dinosaurs are easily recognizable by the characteristic dorsal plates.


Leading biologist Charlotte Brassi works with dinosaur skull details

This exhibit museum recently received, at the end of 2013 . They christened the baby "Sophie", in honor of the daughter of the main sponsor of the museum. True, it is not known what gender the dinosaur actually was - only it is clear that this is a young individual 6-7 years old. Of course, adults weighed much more.
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Initially, the mass of this stegosaurus was estimated at 2300-3700 kilograms by the old approximate methods (by the size of the limbs and other parameters). But scientists have developed a new method, in which the 3DsMax program builds a skeleton model according to its actual size, and then builds a complete model of the body with tissues. The mass of the resulting volume model can be calculated much more accurately. A full description of the method is published in the British journal Biology Letters. According to the results of the calculations, it turned out that young Sophie weighed about 1,560 kilograms. This is comparable to the mass of a young rhino.



The masses of living creatures have a strong influence on other parameters that biologists operate when studying fauna - this is both population density, metabolism, and population distribution. Therefore, the correct assessment of the mass is a key step in building the correct picture of the life of extinct species.