Kenosha---T-Rex just got a facial makeover, thanks to a team of researchers led by Carthage College’s Tom Carr.
The paleontologists used previous studies and their own research to draw comparisons between the snouts of tyrannosaurs and those of modern-day crocodilians. They concluded that the faces of tyrannosaurs actually consisted of not one but three substances: Large, flat scales; armor-like skin and keratin, the hard and shiny material that makes up human fingernails.
Perhaps most interestingly, the team examined small bumps on T-Rex snouts, and determined that they were similar to the mini-domes that cover highly-sensitive nerve endings on the snouts of crocodiles. Based on crocodile research, Carr’s team hypothesizes that the snouts of tyrannosaurs were highly-sensitive.
Along the way, the team took a closer look at a well-preserved dinosaur that was uncovered some 25 years ago in Montana and determined that it was a new species. It's been named "Daspletosaurus horneri--"Horner's Frightful Lizard," after Jack Horner, a former curator at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.
Details of the project led by Carr are available in an article published just Thursday in Nature Publishing Group’s "Scientific Reports", and on WGTD’s Morning Show, where Dr. Carr was Greg’s guest.
Click here for the full program.
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