The tyrannosaur was one of the deadliest dinosaurs that walked the planet, but new research suggests that nothing could escape the jaws of the carnivorous predators — not even others of its species.
Researchers discovered a tyrannosaurus bone when digging in the Lance Foundation in Wyoming that contains strong evidence that suggests the massive beasts were cannibals.
The new evidence, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Baltimore on Nov. 1, reveals that the recently-discovered the bone of the T-Rex featured grooves that suggest bite marks from an animal pulling flesh in the same way we would eat a piece of chicken.
The bone features at least 10 separate grooves that varied in width and depth, but interestingly enough, they found that the larger end of the bone contains smaller parallel grooves that could be caused when an animal turned its head while eating so that its serrated teeth dragged across to wipe the bone clean.
"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 —Tyrannosaurus rex or Nanotyrannus lancensis — eliminates all interpretations but cannibalism," paleontologist Matthew McLain of Loma Linda University in California explained in a release. "This has to be a tyrannosaur," he said. "There's just nothing else that has such big teeth."
Because of this pattern of serration grooves, the researchers were able to infer about the size of the animal responsible for the teeth marks by using serration size approaches that previously worked when identifying Komodo dragons.
"It only works if you know what species it is," McLain said. "And since tyrannosauruses are the only large predators in these formations, it's pretty straightforward."
Although the evidence suggests that the tyrannosaurus fed on each other, it's likely that the dinosaur was already dead. It's not known whether or not the T-Rex killed and then ate a member of its kind or if it came across the meal when scavenging for a snack.
This isn't the first time dinosaurs have been found to go all Hannibal Lector on us. Four Tyrannosaurus rex specimens were found with tooth marks made by a large dinosaur back in 2010, and since the T-Rex was the largest carnivore from the specimens' time period and location, it has to be another T-Rex that was the culprit.
Earlier this year, British researchers presented a report that also strongly suggests that a Daspletosaurus (relative of the T-Rex) could be to blame for eating a smaller dinosaur of its same kind.
Source: The Geological Society of America
Photo: Dana Sibera | Flickr
