childhood toys Jurassic Park Looking back, paleontologists gave one of the most famous dinosaurs a facelift, Tyrannosaurus Rather than being a ferocious, protruding chopper, it had proportionally sized teeth concealed by scaly lizard-like lips.
In a new study from the University of Portsmouth, an international team of researchers studied jaw morphology, tooth structure, and tooth wear patterns in lipped and lipless reptiles, and found that theropod mouths were more similar to those of lizards than crocodiles. I found that it resembles a mouth. As I thought before.
“It has been argued that the teeth of predatory dinosaurs may be too large to be covered with lips, but our research shows that their teeth are not, in fact, unusually large. ‘, says study leader Thomas Cullen, an assistant professor of paleontology at Auburn University. “Even the enormous teeth of Tyrannosaurus rex were proportionally similar to those of living predatory lizards when compared to skull size, rejecting the idea that their teeth were too large to be covered with lips. doing.”
In fact, scientists believe their mouth structure resembles a tuatara. The tuatara is a small extant New Zealand lizard-like reptile with a direct lineage to dinosaurs. It also had a lot in common with some lizards that weren’t closely related to theropods.
“It’s quite remarkable how similar theropod teeth are to monitor lizards,” said study co-author Derek Larson, collections manager and researcher in paleontology at the Royal BC Museum in Canada. said. “From the smallest dwarf he-monitor to Komodo-hi-dragon, the teeth function in much the same way. So the monitor, if not closely related, is the theropod, based on this functional similarity. It compares very favorably with extinct animals like dinosaurs.”
The study notes the large size of dinosaur skulls and teeth compared to modern lizards with lips.Scientists who examined the fossils also found that the holes in the theropod’s jaws, which would have housed nerves and blood for mouth tissues, were much more similar to lizard holes than crocodiles. discovered that
“As any dentist will tell you, saliva is important for maintaining dental health,” says co-author Kirsten Brink, assistant professor of paleontology at the University of Manitoba. “Teeth not covered by lips are at risk of drying out and can take more damage when feeding or fighting, as seen in crocodiles but not dinosaurs.
“Dinosaur teeth have very thin enamel, and mammal teeth have thick enamel (with some exceptions),” she added. “Crocodile enamel is a little thicker than dinosaur enamel, but not as thick as mammal enamel. It has been modified.”
The study provides fresh insights into how animals have fed and maintained dental health, while offering evolutionary ecologists some exciting new avenues of exploration and artists provides an option to return to the drawing board.
“Since dinosaur restoration began in the 19th century, dinosaur artists have gone back and forth with lips, but lipless dinosaurs became more prominent in the 1980s and 1990s,” he said. Author Mark Witton of the University of Portsmouth said: “After that, they became deeply rooted in popular culture through films and documentaries. Jurassic Park and its sequel, walking with dinosaurs and so on.
“Interestingly, there was no dedicated research or discovery that prompted this change. It probably reflected a taste for new ferocious-looking aesthetics rather than a shift in scientific thinking,” he said. “It subverts this popular depiction by covering its teeth with lizard-like lips, which many of our favorite depictions of dinosaurs, including the iconic Jurassic Park, do not get right.” means T Rex“
A study was published in a journal chemistry.
Source: University of Portsmouth
