T-Rex might have been even more vicious than we thought
(Mirror Daily, United States) A new study performed on fossilized bones shows it’s lucky there was only one in Jurassic Park, because T-rex ate each other.
If this study is correct, Jurassic Park might have been an entirely different movie, with the giant carnivorous king hunting down its mates in a ferocious cannibalistic state, rather than poor Dr. Grant and those unfortunate kids.
A little while back, paleontologists discovered a bone in Lance Formation, Wyoming. It had some strange teeth marks on it, that made them think one of its own might have eaten it. The bone was broken at both ends and had deep gauges on it. These obviously suggest that another animal had been tearing the flesh off the bone, just like a lion or a hyena would do today.
The interesting fact about the marks on the bone is that they presented small parallel indentations on one end, which would suggest that the animal that ate it needed to turn its head in order to peel off the flesh from the bone. The only two living creatures at that time which had this particularity of physiology were the crocodile and the T-rex.
The crocodile was quickly dismissed as a potential predator, because paleontologists don’t think it would have had a chance against a T-rex, therefore, the only other option remaining was another T-Rex.
The only two large theropods ever found in that region of Wyoming were two Rexes: Tyrannosaurus Rex and Nanotyrannus Iancensis. The latter is a somewhat smaller type of T-rex, but with much more teeth. The only logical conclusion here would be that T-rex was a cannibal.
Apart from this there is also evidence in the teeth. The marks left on the bone belong to some very big and jagged teeth, that could have only belonged to another T-rex.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex, or Tyrant King Lizard, to translate its name directly from Ancient Greek and Latin, belongs to the coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur genus. It lived roughly where western North America is now, some 68 to 66 million years ago. Back then, North America was an island continent which scientists have dubbed Laramidia.
He was bipedal, had a very long strong tail and powerful hind limbs. It could reach 12 meters in length, 4 meters in height and close to 7 tons in weight. Paleontologists consider the Tyrannosaurus Rex an apex predator, meaning that it had no natural predators himself, therefore making him literally the king.
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