How much does a Tyrannosaurus rex weigh? Tyrannosaurus - a predatory dinosaur
There are no superpredators in our modern ecosystem. It is difficult for us to imagine an animal 14 meters long and weighing 10 tons attacking herbivores of comparable size. This is exactly what the most famous predator of all time was - the Tyrannosaurus rex. In the study of paleobiology of tyrannosaurs and other dinosaurs for recent years outstanding discoveries were made. Dozens of new species of dinosaurs are described every year. This book is an incredibly interesting and truly scientific journey of 100 million years, from the Middle Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous period. In it, the famous expert on tyrannosaurs, David Hawn, gives the most full view about the evolution and all aspects of the life of these amazing ancient reptiles and their contemporaries in the light of the latest paleontological research.
Book:
Impressive smile
| <<< Назад
|
Forward >>> |
Impressive smile
Tyrannosaurs are distinguished among theropods by the fact that they have different types teeth. While in most theropods the teeth on the premaxilla are little different from the rest, in tyrannosaurs there is a marked difference between these teeth and the teeth on the maxilla and dentary. There are only 8 premaxillary teeth (four on each side), and they are sometimes described as incisor-shaped, that is, similar in shape to the incisors of mammals. This shape makes them very resistant to bending loads with different directions, and they had to be strong. As discussed later, this appears to have adapted them well to a function during eating: scraping meat from bones.
The number of teeth in the maxillary and dentary bones varies among tyrannosaurs; each bone had from 11 to 18 teeth, and usually more was in smaller, more ancient tyrannosaurs, and less in later and larger forms. The first teeth on the dentaries are usually small and more premaxillary in shape, but the remaining teeth on the dentaries and maxillae are more “normal” for theropods. In fact, the ancestral archosaur tooth is quite similar to a typical theropod tooth, and its shape and arrangement are common among many groups of predators (including various extinct crocodilian lineages). The teeth are relatively flat and curved back, and often the curve of the front edge is greater than the back, which is more straight. In the case of tyrannosaurs, these teeth are typically thicker than those of many other theropods. In animals such as allosaurus And velociraptor, the edges of the teeth are dagger-shaped. The teeth themselves are quite thin: the tooth of an allosaurus, with a length of 10 cm, in thickness at its thickest point does not exceed a centimeter. Tyrannosaurus rexes have significantly thicker teeth—more than twice as thick in some cases—making them stronger and more resistant to breaking off during powerful bites. The teeth in the jaws of Tyrannosaurus rex differ not only in shape, but also in size. The premaxillary teeth are almost identical, but on the maxillary bone there are immediately quite large teeth, then several especially large ones, and then they gradually become smaller, and the last tooth is quite small.
The oval cross-section of most of the teeth shows that they functioned more like spikes than knives, and were left rather puncture wounds than cut ones. However, it cannot be said that these teeth could not also cut. All tyrannosaurus teeth (in fact, most theropod teeth) had sharp edges with serrations (denticles) to help cut meat. The denticles form a line on the tooth called a “ridge,” “keel,” or “carina.” The denticles are quite small, and look very much like one half of a tiny zipper. Comparisons to a saw blade or a steak knife are true because these teeth essentially served the same function, helping to cut skin and muscle tissue. And experiments with the teeth of a tyrannosaurus prove this - the denticles are dissected by individual muscle fibers, making it easier for the teeth to sink into the meat and provide a deeper, more effective bite. However, the serrations themselves are much smaller than those on a steak knife: each is less than half a millimeter long.
The denticles protrude slightly from the surface of the tooth, making the tooth edge sharper, although slight lateral compression of the maxillary teeth and dentaries already contributes to the formation of the leading and trailing edges for the ridges. However, while the tooth crest runs along the leading edge, the posterior crest in tyrannosaurs may have some interesting deviations. In many animals the posterior ridge of the teeth of the maxilla and dentary has some bending, so that as we move from the tip of the tooth to the base, the ridge deviates from the edge of the tooth and goes to its lateral side. In other animals, the posterior dental ridge splits into two, and they move apart down the tooth. Exactly what benefits such a feature may provide is not known; it may simply be a random trait that confers no evolutionary advantage or disadvantage and therefore persists. The fact that at times such traits appear almost randomly in some individuals different types seems to suggest that selection does not exert much pressure on them either to develop or to lose them.
The roots of tyrannosaurus teeth were large, approximately twice as long as the crown. Therefore, as a rule, each tooth was firmly held in the jaw, but tyrannosaurs, like other archosaurs, regularly replaced teeth. After some time of use, the teeth wore out, the sharp tips and comb were worn down. As the tooth wore away, the root partially dissolved, leaving the crown protruding freely into the jaw and held in place only by a few ligaments. A replacement tooth formed under it and grew, pushing out old tooth, which eventually fell out and allowed a new one to cut through. Thus, Tyrannosaurus rex had relatively new teeth in its jaws all along. Old ones fell out during eating or other activity, and this likely explains, at least in part, why theropod teeth are found next to bones bearing marks from the same teeth. This also means that it is unlikely that on any given day all the teeth of a Tyrannosaurus rex would fit perfectly in its mouth; mounted skeletons in museums and depictions of tyrannosaurs and other theropods in art and pop culture always show a perfect, completely complete line of teeth, when in reality a living animal almost certainly had several teeth missing, and growing new teeth only showing from the jaw or have not yet reached their final size. Consequently, one individual tyrannosaurus that lived 10 years or more could have replaced hundreds or even thousands of teeth; Theropod teeth are a fairly common find, even in places where the number of individual animals is small.
Niramin - May 30th, 2016
Tyrannosaurus (order of lizards, family Tyrannosauridae) is one of the most famous dinosaurs that lived in the last era of the Cretaceous period, 68 - 65 million years ago. He was one of the largest, if not the largest, among the giant lizards. The body length of these animals averaged 12 m, height - 6 m, and weight - 7 tons. Strong, saw-toothed teeth measuring about 15 cm reliably held prey. The powerful and mobile neck contrasted with the tiny forelimbs, which had two fingers.
Scientists suggest that tyrannosaurs ate in much the same way as modern lions, that is, they hunted herbivorous representatives of the flora and did not neglect carrion. Most often, their victims were duck-billed dinosaurs. Since the latter ran quickly, the predators attacked them from ambush.
Zoologists have long wondered why this carnivore had such short front legs. Most believe they were used to get up after sleep.
Fossils in the form of several Tyrannosaurus rex teeth were found back in XIX century. However, it was not possible to determine who they belonged to. Only in 1905, when archaeologists excavated two almost complete skeletons, the British scientist Osborne gave this species of lizard its name (Tyrannosaurus rex) and described them.
The remains of giant predators were found in the USA (Montana, Texas and Wyoming), Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan), Mongolia and Asia. In 2011, Chinese scientists discovered a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton with feather imprints in Liaoning province and suggested that it probably belonged to a juvenile, and the primitive plumage served to protect against the cold.
Tyrannosaurus rex in pictures and photos:
Photo: Tyrannosaurus rex - skeleton. 
Video: Tyrannosaurus Rex T-Rex
Video: Tyrannosaurus Rex: King Of Dinosaurs
Tyrannosaurus, translated from Greek, means “tyrant lizard”, it was one of the last dinosaurs to exist on the planet. T-Rex, as it is also called, was the largest and most powerful of the predatory carnivorous dinosaurs.
Its size was larger than a modern elephant, the length of the tyrannosaurus was the width of a tennis court and could easily look into the windows of the third floor.
Characteristics of Tyrannosaurus
- Length: up to 13 meters
- Height: 4m (from ground to hips)
- Skull - 1.5 m.
- Teeth – up to 31 cm (including root length)
- Weight: up to 7 tons (possibly large individuals can weigh up to 9 tons)
- Lifespan: About 30 years
- Travel speed: 17 – 40 km/h
- Epoch:68-65 million years ago
- Diet: large herbivorous dinosaurs
- Habitat: Canada, USA (South Dakota, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Wyoming).
Tyrannosaurus had a massive head measuring one and a half meters in diameter, set on a flexible and powerful neck. His brain was elongated and narrow in shape.
The dinosaur's vision was very well developed, as well as hearing and smell, so it was possible for him to smell prey simple matter. The eyes of the tyrannosaurus accurately assessed the distance to the victim and allowed the animal, baring its gaping mouth, to rush and tear the victim to pieces in a matter of seconds.
Tyrannosaurus (Tyrannosaurus), T-Rex is the largest predator of dinosaurs. Rows of teeth arranged in a curved shape on upper jaw, resembled a scalpel blade. Tyrannosaurus easily pierced even the toughest animal skin with its sharp teeth, and then with quick movements of its head tore it into pieces. The teeth of a Tyrannosaurus rex could grow up to 18 cm in length. When teeth wore out, new ones grew in their place.
Physique of Tyrannosaurus T-Rex
Compared to the massive hind legs, the front legs could seem ridiculously small. The front legs looked like two clumsy appendages, they were useless for attacking prey and too short for bringing food to the mouth. Despite this, everyone knows that the front legs also had developed muscles. Most likely, you have seen how pets use their forelimbs to stand up or, conversely, lower themselves to the ground.
They roamed alone or in pairs and followed herds of large herbivores, waiting for weak, young or sick individuals. Sometimes they hunted from ambush in order to catch prey after a short chase, and the tyrannosaurus could reach speeds of up to 40 km/h. Most experts are still arguing on this issue, but almost all of them agree that this dinosaur was an active predator and did not refuse carrion.
Very often, the Tyrannosaurus is depicted with a steeply raised head, a wide belly, legs apart and a snake-like tail that drags along the ground. Now we know that the body of the tyrannosaurus is located horizontally, and the powerful tail goes into the back and balances the head. IN lately V South America Skeletons of an even more enormous predator were found - Gigantosaurus, with a skull size of 1.83 meters in diameter. The largest known Tyrannosaurus rex skull was discovered in the sixties in Montana (USA). Its dimensions were 1.5 m.
T-Rex is a terrible predator who also did not refuse carrion. The tyrannosaurus had a massive, heavy tail, which acted as a counterweight to the head.
(68-65 million years ago)
His sense of smell was better developed than most other dinosaurs, and his vision was so sharp that even a hawk could not compare with him. Plus, it was binocular, he could look into different sides, and the picture was reunited into one whole, which made it possible to determine the distance to the victim with sufficient accuracy, which the larger Giganotosaurus did not have.
Tyrannosaurus is perhaps the best known of all Cretaceous carnivores. He was one of the largest land predators; his main weapon was considered to be his mouth with a powerful jaw and strong teeth.
What did they eat and what kind of lifestyle did they lead?
There were several opinions about how and what this huge lizard ate: only carrion or did it attack other dinosaurs and reptiles. Most scientists agreed that he hunted smaller representatives of the animal world, although he did not disdain to profit from carrion. This was decided only after tyrannosaurus rex bite marks were found on the skeletons of other dinosaurs. They were so bloodthirsty that they did not hesitate to attack their own kind. It was later discovered that tyrannosaurs often had to fight for territory with other large carnivores. The eye sockets also indicate its predatory nature.Details about the body structure
The skin was scaly, like that of lizards. His posture was slightly inclined, but even so, this bloodthirsty giant could easily look into the window of today's three-story house.
Dimensions
It could reach 13m in length, on average -12mHeight 5-5.5m
Body weight: was quite large - from 6 to 7 tons
Head
The largest skull reached 1m 53cm in length. The shape of the skull: wide at the back, and narrowing at the front; when viewed from above, together with the jaws, it resembles the letter U. The brain is small in size, in terms of intelligence it could be compared with a crocodile.
The teeth were very sharp and long (15-30 cm in length, the longest of all existing saurians). The bite was very powerful, the pressure of several tons was 15 times greater than the bite force of a lion. With the help of his jaws he could crush any bones and even skulls; his enemies almost never survived a bite.
Limbs
There were four limbs, but it moved only on 2 hind ones, the two front ones were small and completely undeveloped, unlike Spinosaurus. The usual speed is up to 20 km/h; if necessary, the tyrannosaurus could reach speeds of up to 60 km/h. The tail helped to maintain balance, and could also be a murder weapon - with its help one could easily break the spine or cervical vertebrae. Hind legs They were also very powerful, they had 4 fingers. 3 of them were support ones, and the last one didn't even touch the ground.Video about tyrannosaurs No. 1.
Video No. 2.
Fight with King Kong (from the movie King Kong).
Tyrannosaurus fight.
In the “Reptiles and Amphibians” section, for the first time we decided to talk about such an animal, which previously, undoubtedly, was the king of beasts, if you can call it that. To begin with, we will find out what tyrrhanosaurus means in translation from Latin, let's name the closest relatives of this predator. Then we’ll talk more about his appearance and size. Of course, the article about the Tyrrhanosaurus would not be complete if we did not tell who it hunted, where and when it lived on Earth.
Tyrannosaurus Rex is one of the most famous carnivorous dinosaurs. Can't even compare to him. It owes part of its popularity to the means mass media, especially the release of the film “Jurassic Park”. At the American Museum of Natural History in New York, it is a favorite exhibit among visitors.
The meaning of the name Tyrannosaurus and its closest relatives
Tyrannosaurus - literally translated from Latin as “tyrant lizard”. This name comes from the ancient Greek words - “tyrant” and - “lizard, lizard”. Rex means "king". This is what the famous American biologist and paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborne, who at that time was the president of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, named and first described this dinosaur in 1905.
The Tyrannosaurus genus belongs to the Tyrannosauridae family and consists of only one species of animals - Tyrannosaurus Rex, a large carnivorous dinosaur. In addition to it, Tyrrhanosaurus includes another subfamily, which includes Albertosaurus, Alectrosaurus, Alioram, Chingkankousaurus, Daspletosaurus, Eotyrannus, Gorgosaurus, Nanotyrannus and Tarbosaurus.
Dimensions, appearance and structural features of Tirex
The largest and most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found was named Sue, after its discoverer, paleontologist Sue Hendrickson. After carefully measuring Sue's bones, scientists concluded that T-Rex was one of the largest predatory dinosaurs. It was up to 4 meters (13 feet) high and 12.3 meters (40 feet) long. Sue's recent analysis, published in 2011 in the journal PLoS ONE, suggests that Tyrrhanosaurus weighed as much as 9 tons (8,160 kg to be exact).
T-Rex had powerful thighs and a long, strong tail., who served not only deadly weapon, but primarily as a counterweight to it big head(Sue's skull is 1.5 m, or 5 feet long) and allowed the dinosaur to move quickly. In 2011, studies were conducted that were able to model the distribution muscle tissue based on the skeleton of a lizard. According to the results obtained, it can be assumed that this predatory dinosaur could reach speeds of 17 to 40 km/h (10-25 mph).
The two-toed front paws were so insignificant that it becomes very unlikely that T. rex could have used them for hunting or with their help to bring food to the mouth. "We don't know why it needed those little paws," University of Kansas paleontologist David Burnham said honestly.
Tyrannosaurus has the strongest bites of any animal
A 2011 study of T. Rex's massive skull, published in the journal Biology Letter, found that the dinosaur's bite could be considered the most powerful bite of any animal that has ever lived on Earth. These figures reached an impressive figure of 12,814 lbf (57,000 Newtons).
T-Rex had the strongest and sharp teeth , the largest of which reached 12 inches in length. But according to a 2012 study published in the journal Earth Sciences, not all teeth served the same function. In particular, the dinosaur grabbed food with its front teeth, the side teeth tore it into pieces, and the back teeth ground it and sent pieces of food further along the digestive tract. It should be noted that the front teeth were flat and fit much more tightly together than the side teeth. This eliminated the possibility of breaking a tooth during the capture of the victim, when she was still trying to resist and escape.
Who did Tyrannosaurus hunt?
It is a huge predator that primarily preyed on herbivorous dinosaurs, including Edmontosaurus and Triceratops. "By constantly hunting, this predator consumed hundreds of pounds of meat over the course of its life," Burnham said.
"It's possible that T. Rex shared its catch, but did so reluctantly," Burnham said. “He had a hard life, he was constantly hungry and so he hunted all the time.” Note: dragonflies also have to hunt all the time, you can read about this in.
“Over the years, evidence has been collected that The main occupation of Tyrrhanosaurus was hunting for food. “All of them were indirect and based only on bite marks, on missing teeth found near the remains of other dinosaurs, as well as the presence of tracks and even entire hunting trails of the Tyrannosaurus,” Burnham said. But in 2013, in the official journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Burnham and his colleagues finally presented direct evidence of the predatory nature of T. rex. They discovered a Tyrannosaurus rex tooth stuck between the tail vertebrae of a duck-billed dinosaur. Moreover, the victim managed to escape from the T-Rex, and over time, this wound with the tooth healed.
"We found the smoking gun!" says Burnham. “Thanks to this discovery, we now know for sure that the monster from our dreams really existed.”
The journal PLoS ONE published in 2010 the results of analyzes of deep bites and cuts obtained from the teeth of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Yet it is unclear whether Tyrannosaurs were prone to cannibalism, fighting to the death with other relatives, or simply eating their remains.
Scientists are confident that Tyrannosaurs hunted both alone and together with other dinosaurs. In 2014 in the Rocky Mountains British Columbia Footprints were discovered that belonged to three dinosaurs from the Tyrannosauridae family. Presumably these were Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus. A study published in the journal PLoS ONE states that at least relatives of T. rex hunted in packs.
In what places and at what time did T-rex live?
Dinosaur fossils can be found in various rocks, belonging to the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, which was about 65-67 million years ago, at the end of the Mesozoic era. Tyrannosaurus was one of the last dinosaurs to did not evolve into birds, and lived until the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, during which the dinosaurs disappeared.
Tyrannosaurus Rex, unlike other land dinosaurs, constantly roamed throughout the western part North America, which at that time was a huge island - Laramidia. According to National Geographic, more than 50 T-Rex skeletons have been discovered, some of them very well preserved. Even remnants of skin and muscles are visible on them.
Fossil hunter Barnum Brown discovered the first partial skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex at Hell Creek (Montana) in 1902 and after some time sold it to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. Other Tyrannosaurus remains are at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
In 2007, scientists discovered a T. rex footprint in Hell Creek and published the discovery in the journal Palaios. But if this print really belongs to a Tyrannosaurus, then it will be the second one that paleontologists have found. The first trace was discovered in 1993 in New Mexico.
