These brawls often leave behind “difficult-to-heal” wounds, scars that time cannot erase. They can even lead to death.
A new study shows that during brawls or fights, Tyrannosaurus rex often bites or attacks the face of their opponents in a remarkably vicious manner, even though their initial intention is not to exterminate one another.
Instead, these brawls may be the result of individuals competing for rewards such as the right to control territory, mates, or to achieve higher status among their peers.
During brawls or fights, Tyrannosaurus rex often bites the face of their opponents.
Researchers discovered this after analyzing 202 skulls and jaws of Tyrannosaurus rex. The results showed a total of 324 scars. The research team immediately noticed that younger Tyrannosaurus rex had no scars on their heads or faces. In contrast, about half of the adult Tyrannosaurus rex exhibited numerous scars in these areas. This indicates that only mature individuals are eligible to participate in these battles for dominance.
According to the lead researcher Caleb Brown, who is based at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada, “If we combine these specimens together, we can generalize how these animals fought. They are capable of assessing their opponents to adopt appropriate postures, aiming to clamp their strong jaws tightly around the opponent’s head.”
The scars of Tyrannosaurus rex are often long, running along the width of the jaw.
Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most brutal groups of carnivorous dinosaurs, nearly dominating other predators in Asia and North America during the last 20 million years of the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago).
Based on a specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex, specifically an upper jawbone (excavated at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta in 2017), researchers provided analyses of the scars they left behind: “long scars running along the width of the jaw.” Additionally, the skull of Tyrannosaurus rex also has quite a few scars.
However, systematizing these scars is quite challenging. Therefore, Brown and his colleagues began documenting the appearance, shape, and other details of these scars on Tyrannosaurus rex skulls, including those on Albertosaurus, Daspletosaurus, and Gorgosaurus.
Scars are quite common on the faces of large Tyrannosaurus rex.
Most of the scars are quite common on the faces of large Tyrannosaurus rex (accounting for about 50%) and about 60% of adult Tyrannosaurus rex. Furthermore, the scars tend to appear on the upper and lower jaws, including tooth punctures and elongated scars.
Based on the spacing between the teeth observed on the skull and the bite marks, Brown noted: “The animals often have similar sizes.” This somewhat indicates that Tyrannosaurus rex did not bite each other when they were young but only did so once they reached maturity. They only fought with others of similar size.
Not only dinosaurs, but modern animals also fight with their peers, which often occurs when they have reached sexual maturity. Brown stated: “These animals are large enough to reproduce, and they do this to attract mates.”
The most challenging aspect of the research is determining the sex of a dinosaur. Unless a dinosaur dies while pregnant or carrying eggs, scientists cannot distinguish females from males.
