Tyrannosaurus Rex, or T.Rex for short, thought to have lived 66 to 68 years ago, is among the most interesting dinosaur species. It is estimated that 2.5 billion of this species, which is the subject of many movies and attracts attention with its large size, lived on our planet for 1-2 million years. A new study published today via Communications Biology reveals new information about T-Rex.
According to the researchers, the eyes of these predators, which have a very strong bite force, shrank as their jaws grew. The study showed that the evolution of the ancestors of Tyrannosaurus Rex to have smaller eyes made later species more powerful to bite, leading to the emergence of large wild dinosaurs, also known as theropods.
Small eye sockets increased the strength of the T-Rex’s skull, allowing them to bite harder
The study analyzed the eye sockets of 410 fossilized reptile specimens that lived between 252 and 66 million years ago. The author of the study, Dr. Stephan Lautenschlager stated that most of the species, especially herbivores, have circular eye sockets, while he observed keyhole-like sockets in some. Lautenschlager noted that the keyhole-shaped carnivores with large skulls are among the carnivores and said that T. Rex is also in this group.
“These species really had eye sockets that helped them bite harder,” said the researcher, a paleontologist at the University of Birmingham. Lautenschlager arrived at these results using computer models.
It was also among the explanations that the narrow eye sockets that evolved in this way created more room for the jaw muscles, strengthened the skull and helped absorb impacts.
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