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China’s Feathered Dinosaurs
Skull with sharp-toothed jaws
of Sinosauropteryx
CLOSE WINDOW
As in theancestral archosaur, for example, the lower jaw was set lower on the skull, thus increasing the gape
of the bite. Its heavy jaw muscles were modified to magnify the speed and power of that bite.
Theropod dinosaurs added further refinements. One, a joint between the muscle- and tooth-bearing parts
of the lower jaw, increased the width of the gape, facilitating the ingestion of even larger food items.
Note that in Sinosauropteryx the lower jaws are not fused together at the chin as they are in modern birds;
instead elastic ligaments enabled the jaws to spread apart at their tips, also contributing to a wider gape.