Scientists share new findings of Tyrannosaurus Rex after analyzing a 75-million-year-old fossil. They used the fossil to reconstruct T-rex’s face. Paleontologists claim that the fossil pertains to a species named Daspletosaurus horneri. This creature wandered across the area known today as northern Montana and southern Alberta, during the period of the Late Cretaceous.
- Paleontologists used a 75-million-year-old fossil to reconstruct the face of Tyrannosaurs Rex.
- Scientists argued that the skin on this creature looks similar to the of crocodiles.
- Its skin has very sensitive tissue which might have helped it catch its prey.
By looking at the texture of the bone, scientists argued that its face might have been covered in small flat scales which might have been sensitive when touching it, being similar to the scales of crocodiles today. Tobin Hieronymus, an anatomist, and neurobiologist at Northeast Ohio Medical University claimed that due to all the skin on our faces we experience different sensations through the soft tissue.
Lizards and birds have this kind of sensitive sensors directly on their bones, having a very thin skin and, thus, sensitive faces. If Tyrannosaurus Rex and other relatives of this species have indeed this type of sensitive tissue, then they may have had some features in common with today’s crocodiles. For example, the sensitive faces of T-rexes might have helped them when catching and handling their prey.
Crocodiles in water can catch nearby animals irrespective of the fact that they are in complete darkness. They have a wide array of highly sensitive nubs which are called integumentary sensory organs (ISOs). Duncan Leitch, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, argued that he had carefully examined the skin of crocodiles and the ISOs help these creatures in various activities.
Crocodiles usually use these sensitive organs to smell the ground in a try to find perfect spots to lay their eggs. Moreover, these sensitive nubs seem to help crocodiles handle their jaws for breaking apart the eggs when hatching time arrives. Scientists were able to determine that they can reconstruct the texture of Tyrannosaurus Rex’s skin by only using a fossil from millions of years ago.
The living bone is generally altered by the matrices of nerves, blood vessels, and muscles which nourish it. There are different types of tissues which leave textured patterns on the bone which can be captured in fossil samples. Thus, paleontologists can reveal some hints regarding the overlying structure. Thomas Cass, a paleontologist at Carthage College, stated that the bone is seen as a dynamic tissue. The new study was published on March 30 in Scientific Reports.
Image source: wikipedia
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