How much do you know about Tyrannosaurus Rex?
Tyrannosaurus Rex is the most famous dinosaur. Although it has been discovered for more than 100 years, the research on Tyrannosaurus Rex has never stopped, and many new studies and discoveries about Tyrannosaurus Rex are announced every year. What new knowledge is there about the Tyrannosaurus Rex now?
Largest Tyrannosaurus rex in Canada
As the most famous dinosaur in the United States, Tyrannosaurus Rex has always been a symbol of the American spirit, and most of the Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils are found in the United States.
Caption: The new skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus Rex "Su" at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
In 1991, an expedition discovered the fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex named "Scotty" in the French River Valley in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. After 28 years of research, Canadian paleontologists announced that "Scotty" has become the largest T-Rex ever discovered, even surpassing the famous T-Rex "Su". How old was the Tyrannosaurus Rex "Scotty"? According to the speculation of paleontologists, its body length can reach 13 meters and its weight is 8800 kilograms, which is larger than the Tyrannosaurus Rex "Su". However, considering that the integrity of "Scotty" is 65%, it is far less complete than "Su", so it is not certain who is bigger between "Su" and "Scotty".
Caption: Scotty at the Saskatchewan Royal Museum T-Rex Discovery Centre.
Caption: Scotty's restoration.
Even if "Scotty" is not the largest T-Rex, it is still one of the largest T-Rex, and it is the largest T-Rex found in Canada so far, and it has become the most famous T-Rex.
Legend: The size comparison of the Tyrannosaurus Rex "Scotty".
How the Tyrannosaurus rex used its head to dissipate heat?
Legend: caloric changes in the frontal parietal fossa on the top of Tyrannosaurus rex.
As we all know, Tyrannosaurus Rex is a huge animal, and heat dissipation has become an urgent problem to be solved. Paleontologists have long noticed that there is a pair of large openings on the top of the head of Tyrannosaurus rex. This pair of openings is called the supratemporal fenestrae, also known as the dorsotemporal fenestra. It hides the secret of the Tyrannosaurus Rex's heat dissipation. A professor of anatomy at the University of Missouri School of Medicine used a thermal imager to record the temperature changes in the heads of alligators and found that the temperature of their superior temporal foramen did not rise but fell when the temperature was high, and the frontoparietal fossa (Frontoparietal fossa) in front of the superior temporal foramen decreased. Fossa) is full of capillaries that can be used to regulate temperature.
Caption: Alligator in thermal imager.
Caption: Superior temporal foramen on the skull of an alligator.
Caption: The superior temporal foramen of Tyrannosaurus rex.
Paleontologists have discovered that it is not just Tyrannosaurus rex that the frontoparietal fossa, which acts as a thermostat, is ubiquitous among theropods. It turns out that the two big holes on the top of the Tyrannosaurus Rex's head are the "air conditioners" that come with it.
Legend: Thermal display of Tyrannosaurus rex and crocodiles and birds under the simulated thermal imager.
Tyrannosaurus Rex "Victoria"
On November 17, 2019, the Arizona Science Center officially exhibited a newly discovered Tyrannosaurus rex fossil named "Victoria". "Victoria" was a newly grown Tyrannosaurus rex, 12 meters long, aged 18 to 25 years old at the time of death. After studying the fossils, paleontologists found that the cause of Victoria's death was hidden in its head and neck. "Victoria" had had a fierce battle with another Tyrannosaurus rex before his death. Its mandible and cervical vertebrae were badly bitten, and the mandible even retained the broken teeth of other dinosaurs.
Legend: The injured part of "Victoria".
Despite surviving the fight, serious wounds later led to an infectious disease that led to a horrific septicemia that eventually killed "Victoria". The research on "Victoria" continues, and its discovery once again proves the fierce intraspecific competition between Tyrannosaurus rex. It seems that there is naked hatred between the same species.
Tyrannosaurus rex's tooth change rate
Legend: Majunlong's head
In 2019, paleontologists studied the fossils of the carnivorous dinosaur Majungasaurus found on the island of Madagascar. Based on a study of a large number of fossilized shed Majungasaurus teeth found and computed tomography scans of its mouth, researchers It was found that Majunosaurus has an unusual tooth change rate, and it can change its teeth every two months on average.
Legend: Majunlong's skeleton
Before this study, paleontologists used to use Tyrannosaurus rex's tooth-changing pattern and frequency as a template for theropod carnivorous dinosaurs, but because Tyrannosaurus rex teeth were larger and stronger, it took at least two years to change teeth. Therefore, it is the carnivorous dinosaur with the lowest frequency of tooth change.
Legend: Tyrannosaurus rex mouth full of thick teeth
Stiff Skull of Tyrannosaurus Rex
Tyrannosaurus rex has a strong bite force, but past research believes that its skull has a certain mobility, even as flexible as birds and snakes, but this is contradictory with the huge bite force, because the force is mutual, when the skull When a huge bite force is generated, this force will also act on the skull in turn, and such a huge force will crush the weak skull.
Legend: The snake's skull and mandible have flexible joints, so it can swallow food much larger than itself.
Animals with strong bites today have rigid skulls, such as hyenas and crocodiles. Paleontologists used the phylogenetic bracket to study the skull of Tyrannosaurus rex and found that the skull of Tyrannosaurus rex was actually very strong and did not twist like birds. Anatomical and engineering analysis also proves this. Tyrannosaurus rex has a "hard" and sturdy skull, which can withstand a huge bite force of more than 4 tons generated by its large mouth, such a huge force is enough to bite through the skin and muscles of the prey, Even crunching bones!
Caption: The accompanying picture shows a Tyrannosaurus rex biting the head of a Triceratops, and the colored part is the force on the head muscles of Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Tyrannosaurus Rex "Su" and Baby Shark
Tyrannosaurus Rex "Su" is the most famous Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, which was exhibited at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago as early as 2000.
Caption: The Tyrannosaurus Rex "Su" on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
The staff of the museum did not throw away the sand after cleaning up the surrounding rock surrounding the "Su" skeleton fossil, but preserved it. Volunteer Karen Nordquist observed these seemingly useless sands with an electron microscope, but found some odd-shaped "grit" only 1 mm in size. After careful research, paleontologists confirmed that these peculiar "gravel" were actually shark teeth, so they named it Galagadon nordquistae, the genus name comes from the game "Small" launched by the Japanese company Namco in 1981. Bee" (Galaga).
Knowntooth shark is a very small shark with a body length of only 0.3 to 0.5 meters. Its appearance is very similar to today's baleen shark. It is a small freshwater shark that lived in cretaceous rivers and lakes. It is very likely that the bee-toothed shark gnawed on the body of "Su" after the body was washed into the river and lake, and was knocked out a lot of teeth, and the teeth eventually became together with the bones of "Su". Fossils and discovered by paleontologists.
Legend: Restoration map of the bee-toothed shark
In addition to the new research and new discoveries about T. rex listed above in 2019, some others are not listed all, and these studies can obviously give us a better understanding of T. rex. We look forward to more research on T-Rex in future.
Once the most powerful creature on earth, are you interested in more of its history?
Here's its metal puzzle model, let's build it together. Although some challenges.
