T‑Rex origins unveiled: Ancient ties to modern birds
The remnants of a T-Rex studied by scientists, which have survived for nearly 68 million years, have provided new insights into this animal. This offers scientists an unprecedented opportunity to analyze the tissues of extinct dinosaurs.
These conclusions are from a study published in the scientific journal "Science." As noted by scientists, they used proteins extracted from dinosaur bones to investigate their molecular similarities to modern animals. Although the theory of a connection between dinosaurs and birds is not new, previously it was based only on anatomical similarities and skeletal data.
They compared T-Rex tissues with modern species
A research team from several leading American universities, working with 68-million-year-old T-Rex bones, extracted collagen—a protein also present in the bones of today's animals. This discovery was groundbreaking because it demonstrated the potential for this protein to survive over millions of years, providing an unprecedented opportunity to analyze dinosaur tissues.
Scientists used an advanced analytical technique—mass spectrometry—to detect collagen, and the obtained peptide sequences were compared with the collagen of 21 modern species. Based on the results, phylogenetic trees were created to show the links of the popular dinosaur with various animal groups. Most analyses placed the T-Rex among archosaurs, a group that includes birds and crocodiles, although they pointed more often to birds.
T-Rex closer to birds than reptiles
The molecular similarities of dinosaur collagen indicated that it is closer to chickens and ostriches than to crocodiles that resemble dinosaurs, although the authors of the study acknowledged that certain data gaps made it difficult to create a complete picture. Does this mean that birds are the closest living relatives of dinosaurs? All signs point to yes. The study results suggest that if biomolecules of other non-avian dinosaurs were examined in the same way, they would also show greater similarity to birds than to other vertebrates.
John M. Asara of Harvard University, the study's author, emphasized in an interview with the "New York Times" that their genetic results align with skeletal data, with over a 90 percent probability that the connection of T-Rex with living birds is real.
There are plenty of memes on the Internet depicting a chicken looking at the sky, where a mighty tyrannosaur emerges from behind a cloud with the message "Remember who you are." Now it turns out that it's not just a humorous graphic.
