Dinosaur cranial imaging

Suppose you wanted a dinosaur skull. Well, you could print one. Kimi Chapelle, a PhD student at the Evolutionary Studies Institute, published not only her scientific paper on the 200-million-year-old dinosaur, Massospondylus, but also a file that anyone can use to reproduce the skull with a 3D printer. Digital scans and online publishing have been described as enabling “a new golden age of anatomical description”. Open source publishing also means the work is available for the benefit of anyone.

Though Massospondylus has been known for many years, its internal cranial anatomy had never been studied in great detail. Chapelle used the Wits MicroFocus X-ray computed tomography facility to scan and reconstruct the cranium, and then describe its features. This helps, for example, to work out how the creature held its head and how it moved and grew (to around four metres long).

Massospondylus is one of the most famous dinosaurs from South Africa. Wits’ Prof James Kitching discovered fossil eggs and embryos in Golden Gate National Park in 1976.