(Edited by Zhang Lanxin).
According to an article published Dec. 8 in the journal Science Advances, researchers found that the last meal of the Tyrannosaurus rex, the hind legs of two baby dinosaurs, was perfectly preserved in its stomach.
This nearly complete dinosaur skeleton was discovered in 2009 at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, and its stomach contents are not very obvious. Staff at the Royal Tyrrell Museum noticed some protruding small bones while preparing the fossils in the laboratory and removed a stone from its chest cavity for closer inspection, and found that the hind legs of two small dinosaurs were intact in its stomach.
In the previous fossil record, dinosaur entrails and their diets have rarely been preserved, and this is the first time that the stomach contents of a tyrannosaurus rex have been discovered. Tyrannosaurus rex was a large predatory species that roamed Alberta and North America during the Late Cretaceous period. They walk on two legs and have short arms. Zelenitsky, a paleontologist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, said, "The tyrannosaurus was a gorgonosaurus between the ages of 5 and 7 (a genus of dinosaurs in the Tyrannosauridae) family, weighing about 350 kilograms, lighter than a horse, and up to 4 meters long at the time of death. It has only 10% of the mass of an adult gorgon. ”
Scientists had previously hypothesized that young Tyrannosaurus rexes had different dietary Xi habits from fully developed adult Tyrannosaurus rex, and the discovery of this fossil marks the first time researchers have direct evidence. Kate Schroeder, a paleoecologist at Yale University, said: "Juvenile tyrannosaurus bones are relatively rare, and the teeth only tell us a rough idea of what these extinct animals eat, and finding the stomach contents is like getting conclusive evidence." ”
Its last and penultimate meal consisted of these small, bird-like dinosaurs, and had only hind limbs and no other skeletal remains. The researchers determined that both small dinosaurs belonged to a species called citipes elegans, which were less than a year old when the tyrannosaurus hunted them. The contents of the stomach cavity of the Tyrannosaurus rex show that the juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex fed on agile, small prey. Zelenitsky added that this may be because the body of the juvenile tyrannosaurus rex is not yet suitable for larger prey.
Dinosaurs