Today a girl in my drama class said “how did people know what dinosaurs sounded like? It’s not like they had a recording of them.” And just wow I never thought I’d have to deal with that. The answer to that question is keeping me up at night.
One note are you fucking kidding me dO YOU KNOW WHAT A MINDFUCK THIS IS FUCK U GUISE IM STILL QUESTIONING MY ENTIRE LIFE BECAUSE OF THAT GIRL.
Scientists don’t know what dinosaurs sounded like. They can, however, make educated guesses with the remains… remaining. Some dinosaurs, for example, have extended nasal chambers formed into weird-looking cranial horns.
By running air through a copy of said chambers, science can reveal what a call of that species might have sounded like.
Other remains can give other clues. Muscle attachments can tell archaeologists where the vocal chords were placed in a species’ throat, and thus determine the vocal range of the dinosaur in question.
Then the Media ignores all of that and electronically manipulates an elephant trumpeting and runs with that.
I hope to have answered your question :)