THE DISCOVERY of giant tooth marks in Tyrannosaurus rex bones has led fossil hunters to declare that the king of the dinosaurs was a cannibal. The lumbering beast was at the top of the food chain in North America 65 million years ago, but until now there has been little evidence to suggest it ate its own kind.
Researchers at Yale University were searching dinosaur fossil collections in another study when they saw deep gouge marks in T rex bones. When the creatures were alive, they were the only large predators that occupied the region. “These are bite marks from large carnivores and T rex is the only one that was out there,” said Nick Longrich, a postdoctoral researcher who led the study.
Bones showed grooves, a few centimetres long, matching the familiar “puncture and pull” marks seen on the bones of other animals which fell victim to T rex.
The tooth marks on small bones – feet and arms – suggest the T rex scavenged on the carcasses of their own species rather than killing them for food.
– (Copyright: Guardian News Media 2010)