The iconic T. rex and raptor may have looked a little less sinister.
A paper 91裸聊视频� co-authored by Derek Larson, a member of Victoria91裸聊视频檚 Royal B.C. Museum91裸聊视频檚 paleontology department, and a team of international paleontologists 91裸聊视频� proposed the dinosaurs may not have been the ferocious-looking, teeth-baring creatures we think they were.
Results from their work suggest theropods, like the Tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptor, may not have had exposed teeth when their mouths were closed but instead had a fleshy covering 91裸聊视频� similar to lips and not unlike those of modern-day lizards.
91裸聊视频淔or a long time, researchers have suggested that theropod dinosaurs had exposed teeth 91裸聊视频� like we see with crocodiles 91裸聊视频� and this has become the pervasive depiction of predatory dinosaurs in films and documentaries,91裸聊视频� said Larson, paleontolgy collections manager and researcher at RBCM, in a statement. 91裸聊视频淥ur study overturns that idea and seriously brings into question how we reconstruct what certain dinosaurs look like.91裸聊视频�
Larson, with his co-authors, looked to modern examples of lip and tooth structures and from examples like the Komodo dragon, researchers determined the exposed teeth of crocodiles are unique to that group. Covered teeth are more typical and researchers determined more probable in extinct animals.
Auburn University91裸聊视频檚 Thomas Cullen, the lead author of the study, said in the same statement, 91裸聊视频渆ven the giant teeth of tyrannosaurs are proportionately similar in size to those of living predatory lizards, rejecting the idea that their teeth were too big to cover with lips.91裸聊视频�
While not indicated in the paper, the researchers acknowledged the fleshy tooth coverings they presume would not be akin to the muscular, mobile lips humans have. They also noted while other extinct animals, like various tusked mammals or flying or marine reptiles, almost certainly had exposed teeth 91裸聊视频� they do not believe the T. rex and other predatory dinosaurs did.
91裸聊视频淎ccurately reconstructing an extinct animal has huge implications for inferring the behaviour, diet, and evolution of these organisms,91裸聊视频� Larson noted.
Given dinosaurs91裸聊视频� closest modern genetic relatives 91裸聊视频� crocodiles and birds 91裸聊视频� are also lipless, Larson said it91裸聊视频檚 not surprising these depictions have become prevalent. 91裸聊视频淧aleontologists often like to compare extinct animals to their closest living relatives, but in the case of dinosaurs, their closest relatives have been evolutionarily distinct for hundreds of millions of years and today are incredibly specialized. Many of the similarities that they once shared with dinosaurs are long gone.91裸聊视频�
One specimen examined in the study was the Field Museum of National History T. rex nicknamed Sue. Sue91裸聊视频檚 jaws and teeth will be on display at RBCM starting June 16.
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