Photograph by Ira Block; model by Brian Cooley
Published February 28, 2012
Once the largest known carnivore on land, Tyrannosaurus rex also had the most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal of any time period, a new study suggests.
(Related video: "T. Rex's Bone-Shattering Bite Filmed.")
Much conventional wisdom about the world's most famous dinosaur species has been called into question in recent years—for instance, whether the 40-foot-long (12-meter-long) T. rex species could run or only plod along.
Likewise, some have contended that the supposedly mighty predator actually had a modest bite, limiting T. rex to scavenging.
To see how forcefully T. rex could bite, biomechanicists involved in the new study used laser scanners to digitize juvenile and adult T. rex skulls. The team then used computer models to reconstruct the dinosaur's jaw muscles and analyze bite performance.
The models suggest that an adult T. rex was capable of a maximum bite force of 35,000 to 57,000 newtons at its back teeth. That's more than four times higher than past estimates and ten times as forceful as the bite of a modern alligator.
T. rex, which went extinct about 65 million years ago, "probably lives up to its reputation as a ferocious biter," concluded study leader Karl Bates, a computational anatomist at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
(Also see "New 'Destroyer' Dinosaur Found—Was T. Rex Relative.")
T. Rex No Match for Megatooth?
Although T. rex may have possessed the most powerful bite of any land animal, it apparently paled in comparison to that of prehistoric megalodon—literally "megatooth"—sharks, which may have grown to lengths of more than 50 feet (16 meters) and weighed up to 30 times more than the largest great white.
Past megalodon research suggests these giant marine predators, which first appeared around 16 million years ago, could chomp with more than three times the force of T. rex, based on the new figures.
The bite force of a megalodon—"just because it was so much larger-bodied—would have been bigger," Bates said.
So T. rex could have bitten with ten times the force of an alligator. But would it have?
Answering that question would require an estimate of how much stress T. rex's skull could take, Bates said—to help pinpoint just how forcefully the predator could have bitten down with without hurting itself.
The T. rex bite study will be published online February 29 in the journal Biology Letters.
Latest News
Trending News
-
Rare Video of Giant Oarfish
Scientists recently captured a rare video of an oarfish, but what's the real significance of the underwater footage?
-
5 Sky Events This Week
Skywatchers can witness the biggest supermoon of 2013 and several other lunar events this week.
-
Environmental Murder Mystery
Police are still looking for environmentalist Jairo Mora Sandoval's murderers, while the episode has more Costa Ricans talking about the links between poaching and drug trafficking.
Advertisement
Celebrating 125 Years
-
Explorer Moment: Ray of Hope
Biologist Andrea Marshall leads her team in discovering new and conserving known manta ray species.
-
Sylvia Earle on Women in Science
Sylvia Earle reflects on her scientific career and on gender obstacles she faced along the way.
ScienceBlogs Picks
Connect With Nat Geo
Got Something to Share?
Special Ad Section
Great Energy Challenge Blog
- Study Says: Hey, You, Get Onto the Cloud (It Saves Energy)
- Who Will Swelter This Summer? The Pressures on the Nation’s Power Grid
- Tar Sands Tour: Boomtown, Scarecrows, and Spin; “We Have Met the Enemy, and He is Us”
- Climate Change: China, U.S. Bring Toy Fire Truck to Seven-Alarm Fire
- Student Infographic Contest Paints Bright Picture of Youth Concern on Energy and Climate
