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Dinosaur
with a heart to get closer scrutiny
Museum temporarily removes ‘Willo’ for research
September
7, 2000
For immediate release
Science and news editors
Contacts: Karen Kemp, (919)
733-7450 ext. 304, or Nancy
Walters, ext. 305
(RALEIGH, N.C.) – Willo, the world’s first dinosaur with a heart, was removed today from exhibit in the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences so researchers can take a closer look at the unique specimen. When the dinosaur heart discovery was announced in the April 21 issue of the journal Science, the story was reported by media around the world, from Japan and Australia to the front page of the New York Times.
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The research team, which includes Museum paleontologists and N.C. State University scientists, wants to perform higher-resolution CT scans and create more detailed images of the fossilized heart. In addition to looking more closely at the heart, the team will scan the whole dinosaur, focusing on a second mass in the pelvic area. Other imaging techniques will be explored as well, including both low- and high-intensity X-rays and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which uses magnets instead of radiation to create images of internal organs and bones.
The research will take place at the N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine’s Biomedical Imaging Facility. Lead members of the research team are Dr. Dale Russell, Museum paleontologist and N.C. State research professor; Dr. Michael Stoskopf, professor and expert on the comparative anatomy of mammals, reptiles, and birds; and Paul Fisher, director of the vet school’s Biomedical Imaging Facility.
"A lot of people have stuck fossils in scanners before, but what we’re trying to do is evaluate a number of different methods and develop better techniques for getting high-quality images of soft tissues and bones," Stoskopf said.
The dinosaur, a 66-million-year-old Thescelosaurus (THESS-uh-loh-SAWR-us), will be placed back on exhibit in time for the Museum’s Oct. 7 opening of a related traveling exhibit, The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park: The Lost World. At the Museum’s First Friday event on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. Dr. Russell will present a free lecture on Willo.
The research is an initial project of the Center for the Exploration of the Dinosaurian World, directed by Russell. The Dinosaur Center is co-sponsored by the Museum and N.C. State’s College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
Willo, a vegetarian dinosaur about the size of a short-legged pony, was found in 1993 in northwest South Dakota. It was acquired by the Museum in 1996 and will be returned to permanent display in the Museum’s "Prehistoric North Carolina" exhibit. Scientists nicknamed the 663-pound, 13-foot-long herbivore "Willo," after the wife of the rancher on whose property it was found.