T-rex's skull was so hard that it couldn't bite

An adult Tyrannosaurus rex (T-rex) has a bite force of up to 5.8 tons, which is equivalent to the weight of 13 Steinway Model D pianos , the largest terrestrial animal that humans can bite. ever found.

Scientists are always trying to figure out why with such a big bite, the skull is not damaged. A new study published on September 25 found the reason why the T-rex skull was too hard.

According to a research by Missiouri University, the main feature that makes the skull nearly 2m long and about 1.5m wide is not damaged by the bite force is its hardness . "When you exert a great force on an object, there is an interaction between motion and balance," wrote associate professor Cassie Holliday. "Birds and lizards have great movement but are unbalanced. When we simulated the movements of the T-rex skull, we found that they did not swing like the skulls of birds and lizards. , this requires a higher hardness of the skull. "

Picture 1 of T-rex's skull was so hard that it couldn't bite
T-rex's skull is as hard as a skull of hyenas and crocodiles.

The researchers said T-rex's skull was as hard as a skull of hyenas and crocodiles. Previous studies seem to have overlooked this key point when the research focused on the skeletal system, but ignoring other interconnecting systems such as muscles and ligaments, which are the ones that help bones move and interact with each other.

The scientists combined biological anatomy with 3D rendering technology on computers to recreate the behavior of T-rex's skull and T-rex's muscular and ligament systems when chewing. In addition, the study also used parameters from two species that are far away from T-rex, parrots and geckos.

The scientists say their findings could help evaluate studies of jaw and muscle functions in humans and other animals.

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