New study reveals T. rex could have been 70% heavier than thought
In the journal "Ecology and Evolution," an article has been published in which scientists argue that enormous dinosaurs were even heavier than previously thought.
Scientists from the United Kingdom and Canada found that the most massive Tyrannosaurus rex could have weighed 70% more than previous estimates indicated. These revelations are the result of studies using computer modelling.
New data confirm greater mass of dinosaurs
Many dinosaur species are known only from single fossils, which do not always represent the most prominent individuals of a given species. This raises the question of how large the largest of them could have been. The research focused on Tyrannosaurus rex because scientists have many fossils of this species.
Differences in the body sizes of adult Tyrannosaurus rex, which are still poorly understood, were analysed, considering gender differences and without them. Due to their large sizes and their relation to dinosaurs, alligators were used as a reference point in the studies.
Palaeontologists concluded that the largest known T. rex fossils are in the 99th percentile, representing the upper one percent of body size. However, to find a specimen in the upper 99.99 percent (one in ten thousand individuals), scientists would have to excavate fossils for another 1,000 years at the current rate.
Scientists' conclusions and computer simulations
Computer modelling indicates that the largest T. rex that ever lived could have weighed up to 15,000 kilograms, compared to the largest known specimen that weighed 9,000 kilograms.
In terms of length, the largest T. rex could have measured 15 metres, while the largest discovered specimen measured 12 metres.
