Knowing the Nose

A recent study published online, reexamines the radical idea that Diplodocus had a long trunk, an idea first proposed by Robert Bakker in his 1986 book on dinosaurs. Although the idea has not received much support, in large part because of the absence of observable muscle scars on the skull bones around the nose, several investigators took an independent look by reexamining the relative size of the facial nerve, as indicated by the bony opening that it passes through. The facial nerve along with the trigeminal nerve innervates the nose region in most vertebrates, thus a larger sized facial nerve would indicate a larger nose. In relation to the size of the opening in elephants, Diplodocus had a very small opening for the facial nerve. Although, one would like to see a more quantative approach to this question, at least support leads away from a long nosed Diplodocus.


Knoll, F., Galton, P.M., and Lopez-Antonanzas, R. (2006) Paleoneurological evidence against a proboscis in the sauropod dinosaur Diplodocus. Geobios
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