WITH the recent finding of a rare dinosaur fossil, scientists at the Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are trying to create a sound that may resemble the call of the dinosaur. Sounds of roars, screeches and grunts of celluloid dinosaurs have been dismissed by palaeontologists as mere works of art rather than an imitation of the original.

The fossil of Parasaurolophus, a plant-eating dinosaur, was discovered in northwestern New Mexico, by Robert A Sullivan, curator, State Museum of Pennsylvania and Thomas E Williamson, curator, New Mexico Museum of Natural History. The fossil consisted of a tubular crest which extended some four and half feet from the top of the head. The crest, shaped like a trombone, apparently contained a maze of air cavities which could have helped the dinosaur produce several sounds, surmise the scientists. A powerful computer at Sandea will help them in their endeavour of producing the possible repertoire of dinosaur sounds.