Largest T. rex heavier than ever revealed by new study
An article in the journal Ecology and Evolution suggests that large dinosaurs were even heavier than previously thought.
United Kingdom and Canadian scientists found that the most massive Tyrannosaurus rex could have weighed 70% more than previously estimated. These revelations result from 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 largest 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 analyzed, considering gender differences and without them. Due to their larger size and relation to dinosaurs, alligators were used as a reference point in the studies.
Paleontologists 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 99.99th percentile (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 8,800 kilograms.
The largest T. rex could have measured 15 metres in length, while the largest discovered specimen measured 12 metres.
