A recently unearthed dinosaur bone has unveiled a 66-million-year-old family secret that tyrannosaurs, including the T. rex, were not shy about eating their own kind, scientists say.
The tyrannosaur bone has peculiar teeth marks that strongly suggest it was gnawed by another tyrannosaur. "We were out in Wyoming digging up dinosaurs in the Lance Formation when we found the bone," said paleontologist Matthew McLain. The grooves were clearly those of an animal pulling the flesh off the bone in a direction perpendicular to the bone, in the same way humans eat a piece of fried chicken. But one groove stood out.
It was located at the larger end of the bone and contained smaller parallel grooves caused by the diner's head turning, so that the serrated edges of its teeth dragged across the bone.
Serrated teeth rule out crocodiles and point directly to a theropod dinosaur like T. rex. The fact that the only large theropods found in the Lance Formation are two tyrannosaurs—T. rex or Nanotyrannus lancensis—eliminates all interpretations but cannibalism, said McLain.
The tyrannosaur bone has peculiar teeth marks that strongly suggest it was gnawed by another tyrannosaur. "We were out in Wyoming digging up dinosaurs in the Lance Formation when we found the bone," said paleontologist Matthew McLain. The grooves were clearly those of an animal pulling the flesh off the bone in a direction perpendicular to the bone, in the same way humans eat a piece of fried chicken. But one groove stood out.
It was located at the larger end of the bone and contained smaller parallel grooves caused by the diner's head turning, so that the serrated edges of its teeth dragged across the bone.
Serrated teeth rule out crocodiles and point directly to a theropod dinosaur like T. rex. The fact that the only large theropods found in the Lance Formation are two tyrannosaurs—T. rex or Nanotyrannus lancensis—eliminates all interpretations but cannibalism, said McLain.
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