Shuvuuia's hearing ability was as good as an owl’s It roamed in the present-day Gobi Desert region in Mongolia A new study has revealed that a tiny, carnivorous dinosaur, which had an exceptional low-light vision and whose hearing ability was as good as an owl's, hunted its prey at night. Measuring only 2 feet, the three-toed dinosaur species named Shuvuuia had large eyes and longer cochlea — the part of the inner ear canal that holds sensory receptors. The creature used these abilities to see in the dark and hear even better than the barn owl. This particular species roamed the Earth about 75 million to 81 million years ago (late Cretaceous period) in the present-day Gobi Desert region in Mongolia.