ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science → Biology

Tyrannosaur injuries reveal cannibalistic past

When tyrannosaurs ruled the world, no one was safe from them - not even other tyrannosaurs. The skull of an unfortunate adolescent tyrannosaur shows signs of brutal fight; the individual was defeated and then eaten by members of its own species, new research shows.

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
April 9, 2015
in Biology, Geology, News
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

RelatedPosts

Asteroid impact that wiped out dinosaurs was far worse than previously thought
Fossil Friday: the tiniest, most adorable Tylosaurus skull ever found
Triceratops and Torosaurus were in fact the same dinosaur
Researchers find a pristinely preserved dinosaur embryo in China

When tyrannosaurs ruled the world, no one was safe from them – not even other tyrannosaurs. The skull of an unfortunate adolescent tyrannosaur shows signs of brutal fight; the individual was defeated and then eaten by members of its own species, new research shows.

The animal may not have died fighting, but shows signs of being eaten.

“This animal clearly had a tough life, suffering numerous injuries across the head including some that must have been quite nasty,” said lead author Dr David Hone from Queen Mary, University of London. “The most likely candidate to have done this is another member of the same species, suggesting some serious fights between these animals during their lives.”

It’s not the first time it was suggested that tyrannosaurs were cannibals – in 2010, a study published in PLoS found that no other than T-Rex was a cannibal, while another related dinosaur, Majungasaurus also exhibited cannibalistic behavior. When you have a hammer, everything might seem like a nail to you – when you’re a huge tyrannosaur on top of the food chain, everything looks like a potential meal.

The unfortunate beast found by paleontologists measured about six metres long and its remains were found in a quarry in Alberta, Canada, in 1994. Researchers studied its skull and found numerous injuries, many of which came from bites. There is even a circular, tooth-shaped puncture hole in the back of the head from a particularly savage bite. The creature was bitten even after it was killed, as it was decaying.

Tell-tale bite marks were found on the animal’s skull, which is 55cm long.

It’s hard to say for sure, but it does seem that Tyrannosaurs had a thing for eating each other.

 

“It is not possible to distinguish easily between cannibalism and feeding by another tyrannosaurid,” the researchers write.

Journal Reference: DWE Hone​, DH Tanke. Pre- and postmortem tyrannosaurid bite marks on the remains of Daspletosaurus (Tyrannosaurinae: Theropoda) from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. https://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.885

Tags: dinosaurtyrannosaur

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

Geology

Scientists Analyzed a Dinosaur’s Voice Box. They Found a Chirp, Not a Roar

byTudor Tarita
3 weeks ago
News

Meet the Dragon Prince: The Closest Known Ancestor to T-Rex

byTibi Puiu
2 months ago
Geology

Identical Dinosaur Prints Found on Opposite Sides of the Atlantic Ocean 3,700 Miles Apart

byTibi Puiu
2 months ago
News

Dinosaurs Were Doing Just Fine Before the Asteroid Hit

byTibi Puiu
4 months ago

Recent news

The UK Government Says You Should Delete Emails to Save Water. That’s Dumb — and Hypocritical

August 16, 2025

In Denmark, a Vaccine Is Eliminating a Type of Cervical Cancer

August 16, 2025
This Picture of the Week shows a stunning spiral galaxy known as NGC 4945. This little corner of space, near the constellation of Centaurus and over 12 million light-years away, may seem peaceful at first — but NGC 4945 is locked in a violent struggle. At the very centre of nearly every galaxy is a supermassive black hole. Some, like the one at the centre of our own Milky Way, aren’t particularly hungry. But NGC 4945’s supermassive black hole is ravenous, consuming huge amounts of matter — and the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has caught it playing with its food. This messy eater, contrary to a black hole’s typical all-consuming reputation, is blowing out powerful winds of material. This cone-shaped wind is shown in red in the inset, overlaid on a wider image captured with the MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla. In fact, this wind is moving so fast that it will end up escaping the galaxy altogether, lost to the void of intergalactic space. This is part of a new study that measured how winds move in several nearby galaxies. The MUSE observations show that these incredibly fast winds demonstrate a strange behaviour: they actually speed up far away from the central black hole, accelerating even more on their journey to the galactic outskirts. This process ejects potential star-forming material from a galaxy, suggesting that black holes control the fates of their host galaxies by dampening the stellar birth rate. It also shows that the more powerful black holes impede their own growth by removing the gas and dust they feed on, driving the whole system closer towards a sort of galactic equilibrium. Now, with these new results, we are one step closer to understanding the acceleration mechanism of the winds responsible for shaping the evolution of galaxies, and the history of the universe. Links  Research paper in Nature Astronomy by Marconcini et al. Close-up view of NGC 4945’s nucleus

Astronomers Find ‘Punctum,’ a Bizarre Space Object That Might be Unlike Anything in the Universe

August 15, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.