Palaeontology

Tyrannosaurus rex feasted on its own kind

By T.K. Randall
October 30, 2015 ·  12 comments

Tyrannosaurus rex may have been a cannibal. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.5 Emoke Denes Known for its enormous size and voracious appetite, Tyrannosaurus rex grew up to 40ft long and 20ft tall - a giant among the dinosaurs that roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous.

Now however comes new evidence suggesting that this colossal meat-eating reptile may have feasted not only upon the carcasses of other dinosaurs but on the remains of its own kind too.

The revelation comes courtesy of a half-eaten tyrannosaur bone discovered in Wyoming's Lance Formation which appeared to have been chewed upon by another large theropod dinosaur.The find suggests that Tyrannosaurus and other similar species may have all been cannibals.

"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," said paleontologist Matthew McLain of Loma Linda University.

"This has to be a tyrannosaur. There's just nothing else that has such big teeth."

Source: Washington Post | Comments (12)

Tags: Tyrannosaurus, Dinosaur