Dinosaur senses primitive birds like "Archaeopteryx" and "Hesperornis". The optic nerve was large in "Carcharodontosaurus". Among dinosaurs, theropods had exceptionally large eyes. Deinonychosaurians, especially troodontids, had forward-facing eyes, suggesting stereoscopic vision and improved depth perception. Tyrannosauroid snouts allowed for a 55˚ binocular field of view, less than a modern human but more than their hadrosaurid prey. Dinosaur senses Dinosaur senses are difficult subjects of study for paleontologists since soft tissue anatomy rarely fossilizes. The three semicircular canals of the inner ear of "Allosaurus fragilis", when viewed from the side, had a subtriangular outline. This subtriangular inner ear configuration is present in "Carcharodontosaurus",
Archaeopteryx common uses of that term. A more thorough analysis was published soon after to test this hypothesis, and failed to arrive at the same result; it found "Archaeopteryx" in its traditional position at the base of Avialae, while "Xiaotingia" was recovered as a basal dromaeosaurid or troodontid. The authors of the follow-up study noted that uncertainties still exist, and that it may not be possible to state confidently whether or not "Archaeopteryx" is a member of Avialae or not, barring new and better specimens of relevant species. Phylogenetic studies conducted by Senter, "et al." (2012) and Turner, Makovicky, and Norell