Tyrannosaurs Were Blood-Thirsty Cannibals After All
Recent finds from New Mexico confirm that tyrannosaurs engaged in cannibalistic behavior…
Tyrannosaurs, the family of dinosaurs that includes the eponymous T.rex, were the apex predators of their ecosystems during the latest part of the Cretaceous Period (80–66 million years ago). Thanks to their powerful jaws and large teeth, these ferocious carnivores could prey upon any animal they wanted, including even members of their own species. That’s right: the terrifying tyrannosaurs may have also been cannibals.
Evidence from New Mexico
Recent evidence from the San Juan Basin in New Mexico confirms the idea that tyrannosaurs engaged in cannibalistic behavior from time to time.
Three newly found partial bones pertaining to adult, subadult, and juvenile tyrannosaurs preserve several bite marks and other feeding traces left by another tyrannosaur. The bones include an isolated anterior left dentary (bone of the lower jaw), a proximal caudal centrum (tail vertebrate), and an isolated right femur (thigh bone).
The bite marks in the dentary preserve signs of healing, meaning that the biting occurred when the animal was alive. In contrast, the other two bones (the caudal centrum and the right…
