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Was Tyrannosaurus Rex a foodie?
Dinosaur, fixed in the popular imagination as a ruthless predator chewing up unfortunate creatures that stand in his way.It actually had a jaw full of nerve endings that made it a more sensible eater than previously known, according to paleontologists in Japan, who published their findings Monday in Historical Biology.
According to scientists from the Dinosaur Research Institute at Fukui Prefectural, T. Rex, while not a truly discerning gastronome, had a sophisticated jawbone comparable to the jaws of modern-day crocodiles and tactile foraging birds such as ducks. University conducting the research.
In other words, T. Rex most likely didn’t eat blindly, according to the study. They had keen senses that could allow them to recognize different parts of their prey and chew them differently depending on what they ate.
“The jaws of Tyrannosaurus were strong enough to break bones,” said Soichiro Kawabe, one of the authors. study and a paleontologist the institute said in an email. “However, when food was plentiful, they may have used their sensitive noses to selectively eat the more nutritious parts of their prey. Tyrannosaurus’ diet may not have been as rough as we imagined.”
The study doesn’t say how discriminating the T. Rex is or whether it can recognize the difference between bone and meat.
Dr. “These speculations are highly fanciful and not within the scope of what we can scientifically deduce from our research results,” Kawabe said.
The significance of the study, he said, is that it reveals the complex development of nerves in Tyrannosaurus’ lower jaw.
Dr. “Based on the morphology of the mandibular nerve of Tyrannosaurus, we were able to clarify that the jaw tip of Tyrannosaurus was most likely a highly skilled sensor,” Kawabe said.
Kawabe and another scientist at the institute, Soki Hattori, used a computed tomography or CT scan to analyze and reconstruct the canal structure of the jawbone through which nerves and blood vessels would run. They examined a T. Rex fossil found in the sea. Hell Creek Formation in Montana.
He said the fossil is well preserved, allowing researchers to study the canal structure.
Sensitive jaw tips also provide clues as to how Tyrannosaurus might have parented.
Crocodiles have sensitive snouts that help them detect prey in the water but also provide a delicate sense of touch that they can carry in their mouths without crushing their young with their powerful jaws.
Dr. “Tyrannosaurus may have done the same,” Kawabe said.
University of California paleontologist Jack Tseng, who read the report, said the study underlined “the delicate aspect of T. Rex.”
“We’re really obsessed with the powers the T. Rex can have rather than the subtlety,” he said. “It gives us a sense of delicacy.”
Dr. Tseng said the report gives “another dimension” to a creature that the general public is obsessed with but rarely perceives as anything more than a monster. who analyzed the bite of the young Tyrannosaurus.
“They weren’t idiots chewing up everything they saw moving,” he said.
Still, Dr. Tseng said the study’s findings underscore the need for more fossil evidence to show how the dinosaur’s delicate jawbone was used. Analyzing coprolites, or fossilized feces, “could be another way of figuring out how sensitive their palate is,” he said.
The report’s authors acknowledged that their findings were limited: They did not analyze the dinosaur’s entire jaw region or use other dinosaur fossils for comparison.
“This work could be continued with several additional dinosaur species to see if Tyrannosaurus was truly exceptional or just an ordinary carnivorous dinosaur,” said university paleontologist Thomas R. Holtz. From Maryland, who read the work. “But even this smaller-scale study helps us better understand dinosaurs as living, sentient animals.”
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