2024-04-07 23:06:33
A tyrannosaurus skeleton containing the remains of its last feast has been found in Alberta. A rare paleontological discovery!
As they excavate a skeleton of Gorgosaurus from its plaster cocoon, in the laboratory, technicians from the Royal Tyrrell paleontology museum in Drumheller stop short: they notice small toe bones sticking out of the animal’s rib cage. The team immediately understands that it is stomach contents, and therefore the remains of the last meal of this very young tyrannosaurid. “Already, the skeletons of young tyrannosaurs are extremely rare. But discovering one with the preserved remains of its last meal is a world first! » exclaims François Therrien, curator of dinosaur paleoecology at the museum and first author of the study published in Science Advances.
The Gorgosaurus roamed the tropical forests of western North America regarding 75 million years ago. This 4.5 meter long specimen was discovered in 2009 in the Alberta badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park. According to paleontologists, he was between 5 and 7 years old at the time of his death. As an adult, it might have reached 9 meters in length and weighed 2000 kilos.
The researchers were able to identify the remains of the stomach contents: only the bones of the hind limbs of two young people Citipes, small bipedal dinosaurs the size of a turkey, not yet one year old. “We have known for a long time that adult and juvenile tyrannosaurs were physically very, very different,” says François Therrien. Adults were large, burly animals with massive skulls and sturdy teeth that preyed on duck-billed and horned dinosaurs, but juveniles were light and athletic in build, and their diet was unknown. Our discovery reveals that tyrannosaurs mainly fed on small dinosaurs when they were young and began to feed on large herbivores around age 11. They therefore occupied different ecological niches during their lives. »
According to the Quebec paleontologist, this discovery shows that the young Gorgosaurus was “surgical” in the way it devoured its prey. “While the adults swallowed large mouthfuls, crushing the bones in the process, the young tyrannosaurus carefully dissected the hind legs of its prey and swallowed them whole without chewing,” he points out. He didn’t touch the rest of the carcass, perhaps because the legs were the meatiest part of these little ones. Citipes. » A tasty last meal, no doubt.
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