Did you have any doubts about how scary it would be to run into a T-Rex? If you answered "yes" to that question, then you need to take a closer look at the power of the ancient animal's jaw.
A study on the strength of the Tyrannosaurus Rex's jaw has been conducted by paleontologist Dr. Stephen Lautenschlager from the University of Bristol, showing that the animal had sustained muscle force to support a wide range of jaw angles, suggesting that the maximum jaw gape of the T-Rex was a whopping 63.5-inches.
In fact, that isn't even the widest jaw gape that was discovered among the dinosaurs studied. The Allosaurus fragilis, which was also a part of the study, was shown to have a maximum jaw gape of a huge 79 inches. Both the T-Rex and Allosaurus had optimal gap angles of around 28 inches. The third dinosaur to take part in the study was the Erlikosaurus andrewsi, which had a maximum jaw gape of 43.5 inches.
As you can see from the figures above, with a representing the Allosaurus, b the T-Rex and c the Erlikosaurus, the maximum tension for the animals at a gape angle of three degrees was pretty scary. Increase that to six degrees, however, and things get a little crazy, as shown by the graphs below.
The images essentially show the animals' maximum and optimal jaw gape according to the muscles of their jaw. When in extreme situations, such as a fight, muscles in the jaw could tear to essentially increase the gape of the dinosaurs' jaws.
According to Dr. Lautenschlager, the information from this study could help researchers better understand the likelihood of muscle reconstruction, helping make newer 3D models of the dinosaurs more accurate.
The study was published in Royal Society Open Science.
Via: SlashGear
