T. rex bigger than thought, and very hungry

[n2doc]

By Ben Hirschler
Posted 2011/10/12 at 5:02 pm EDT

LONDON, Oct. 12, 2011 (Reuters) — Tyrannosaurus rex grew faster and weighed more than previously thought, suggesting the fearsome predator would have been a ravenous teen-ager, researchers said Wednesday.

Using three-dimensional laser scans and computer modeling, British and U.S. scientists "weighed" five T. rex specimens, including the Chicago Field Museum's "Sue," the largest and most complete T. rex skeleton known.

They concluded that Sue, who roamed the Great Plains of North America 67 million years ago, would have tipped the scales at more than 9 tons, or some 30 percent more than expected.

Intriguingly, the smallest and youngest specimen weighed less than thought, shedding new light on the animals' biology and indicating that T. rex grew more than twice as fast between 10 and 15 years of age as suggested in a study five years ago.

"At their fastest, in their teenage years, they were putting on 11 pounds or 5 kilograms a day," John Hutchinson of the Royal Veterinary College in London told Reuters.

more
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre79b76d-us-trex/

[tularetom]

1. Hard to imagine jesus ridin around on one of them dudes

But according to the fund-o-menatalists that's exactly what happened.

[fegi052li]

5. nice pic, haha

fundies are funny

[frogmarch]

2. Thanks. Interesting!

Apparently the debate continues among scientists as to whether T. rex was a predator or a scavenger - or both.

From the info in the article, I would assume that at least in their teens they were both scavenger and active predator.

The T. rex specimen called Sue had an avulsion injury that made a divot on her left humerus. In tyrannosaurs and allosaurs, avulsion injuries are found only on the forelimb and shoulder, which leads some researchers to conclude that the forelimbs of these theropods weren't useless appendages, since the avulsions suggest that the injuries happened during struggles with prey. The type of avulsion (near a tendon) injury found on theropods is the type caused by muscular contraction stronger than the forces holding the bone together. Wow.

Dinos are fascinating.

[pscot]

3. New years was just a couple of weeks ago

According to Bishop Ussher's computation the creation occirred on October 3rd, 4004 BC. We had fireworks.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Species extinction isn't always a bad thing.