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T. Rex Has Most Powerful Bite of Any Terrestrial Animal Ever
(photo credit: Robability on Flickr)
Research at the University of Liverpool, using computer models to reconstruct the jaw muscle of Tyrannosaurus rex, has suggested that the dinosaur had the most powerful bite of any living or extinct terrestrial animal.
The team artificially scaled up the skulls of a human, alligator, a juvenile T. rex, and Allosaurus to the size of an adult T. rex. In each case the bite forces increased as expected, but they did not increase to the level of the adult T. rex, suggesting that it had the most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal.
Previous studies have estimated thatT. rex’s bite had a force of 8,000 to 13,400 Newtons, but given the size of the animal, thought to weigh more than 6,000kg, researchers suspected that its bite may have been more powerful than this. Liverpool scientists developed a computer model to reverse engineer the animal’s bite, a method that has previously been used to predict dinosaur running speeds.
An animal’s bite force is largely determined by the size of the jaw muscles. Using their computer models, researchers tested a range of alternative muscle values, as it is not precisely known what the muscles of dinosaurs were like. Even with error margins factored in, the computer model still showed that theT. rex had a more powerful bite than previously suggested.
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A T. rex named Sue (by yoffie_2000)
If you’re ever up or near Chicago, IL, I suggest going to The Field Museum and visiting the largest, most complete, and most preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered. It’s one of the most breathtaking skeletons you will ever see in person, and definitely a great museum overall to explore!
Some information about Sue (catalog number: FMNH PR 2081):
- Overall length: 40.5 feet.
- Height: 13 feet at the hips.
- Estimated to have weighed over 7 tons when alive.
- Weight of skeleton: 3,922 lbs.
- The length of Sue’s skull is 5 feet, and weighing 600 lbs.
- She is named after the palaeontologist who found her, Susan Hendrickson, in Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, South Dakota on August 12, 1990.
- Sue’s bones are the biggest of all T. rex skeletons ever found.
- Sue is estimated to have been 28 years old when she died, making her the oldest Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered.
- The skeleton is so well preserved that palaeontologists can actually see where muscles, ligaments, and tendons attached, along with the cellular structure within the bones is immaculately preserved.
- Sue is the first T. rex to have ever been discovered with a furcula (wishbone), gastralia (stomach ribs), and a stapes (ear bone).
