14 DAY TRIAL // Paleontologist David Hone from Queen Mary, University of London in the UK and fellow researchers believe to have found evidence that dinosaurs belonging to a tyrannosaur genus dubbed Daspletosaurus often got into fights with one another and sometimes even turned into cannibals.
In a report published in the journal PeerJ, the scientists describe the gruesome injuries that a fairly large tyrannosaurine dinosaur whose remains they had the chance to examine suffered both while alive and after death.
The Daspletosaurus dinosaur studied by David Hone and his colleagues was merely a teenager at the time when it died. Even so, it measured about 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) from head to tail and tipped the scale at about 500 kilograms (over 1,100 pounds).
The researchers say that, while alive, this ancient beast was attacked on several occasions and suffered severe injuries to his skull. One of its attackers even left a tooth-shaped hole in the back of its head. Somehow, the dinosaur survived these experiences.
Interestingly, it looks like some of the injuries visible on the Daspletosaurus' skull appear to have been caused by another tyrannosaur. Besides, wounds that the animal suffered after death indicate scavenging by another beast of its kind, EurekAlert informs.
Having found this evidence of combat and scavenging, paleontologist David Hone and his team believe that tyrannosaurs not only got into vicious fights with one another fairly often but also fed on others of their kind if the opportunity presented itself.
