Study explains what made T. rex a top predator

Jul 29, 2015 13:27 GMT  ·  By

Tyrannosaurus rex, best known simply as T. rex, was a carnivorous dinosaur that roamed forested river valleys in North America during the Cretaceous period and that went extinct some 65 million years ago. 

It measured about 40 feet (12 meters) from head to tail and it stood 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 meters) tall. Based on fossilized remains, paleontologists determined that its skull alone was an astounding 5 feet (1.5 meters) long.

With a big skull came a seriously big mouth. Thus, word has it T. rex could swallow 500 pounds (230 kilograms) of meat in just one bite. To execute this bite, it relied on a set of vicious-looking teeth.

T. rex's teeth were shaped like saws

In a recent paper in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers describe the teeth that adorned the mouth of this ancient beast as saw-like in that they were designed to slice through flesh and even bones.

True, sharp teeth that can inflict horrendous injuries are not exactly a novelty in the animal kingdom. T. rex's teeth, however, weren't just sharp. They had a jagged edge, kind of like bread knives do. Except the dinosaur never used them to make sandwiches.

The serrations on T. rex's teeth were not superficial, but instead ran deep. Hence, the dinosaur had no trouble tearing chunks of flesh of the body of its victims and breaking bones with just one swift bite.

“The deep serrations made the teeth much more efficient at chomping on bones and ripping flesh of larger animals and reptiles, and allowed them to prosper for about 165 million years as fearsome, top predators,” paleontologists explain.

Interestingly, the cells that made up T. rex's killer chompers were arranged in a special pattern, Science Daily informs. This customized tissue arrangement made them stronger and more resilient than the teeth of other dinosaurs.

T. rex went extinct, but its teeth didn't

These days, there is not one T. rex left alive anywhere in the world. However, it looks like the beast's teeth didn't go extinct when it did. Au contraire, there is one creature alive today that sports strikingly similar chompers.

This creature is the Komodo dragon, a species native to Indonesia. Like T. rex, this large species of lizard relies on its serrated teeth to slice through the flesh of its prey and make bite-sized snacks out of bones.