All posts tagged: rex

Tyrannosaurus rex walked like a bird on its tiptoes

Tyrannosaurus rex walked like a bird on its tiptoes

Published by Jenni Sidey

Powerful jaws and bone-crushing bites have long shaped the popular image of Tyrannosaurus rex. Its feet, not so much. A new biomechanical study suggests that the giant predator did not lumber around flat-footed. Instead, it likely moved on the front part of its feet, in a bird-like, tiptoe-style gait that may have helped it stay faster and steadier than many reconstructions suggest. The work, published in Royal Society Open Science and led by researchers at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, argues that this detail could change how scientists model the animal’s movement, and how museums and filmmakers depict it. The question sounds small at first. Which part of the foot hit the ground first? But for a predator weighing more than 10 tonnes, that detail could shape speed, balance and the stress placed on the legs with every step. Size comparison between T. rex and several extant terrestrial vertebrates. (CREDIT: Royal Society Open Science) To test it, the researchers examined four well-preserved T. rex specimens: MOR 555, FMNH PR 2081, the former BHI …

Student discovers new carnivore dinosaur 3x older than T. rex

Student discovers new carnivore dinosaur 3x older than T. rex

Published by Jenni Sidey

“You want to stick your finger in a dinosaur brain?” That was Simba Srivastava’s first reaction to the battered fossil sitting in a paleobiology lab at Virginia Tech, a skull so crushed and twisted that he described it in less-than-flattering terms. “This is a uniquely sucky specimen,” he said. “It’s so bad. Like, if you saw a human skull in this way, you’d throw up.” And yet that same fossil, pulled from a drawer decades after it was unearthed in New Mexico, has turned into something unusually important. After two years of work, Srivastava and his colleagues identified it as a new species of carnivorous dinosaur, one that lived near the end of the Triassic and may mark one of the last appearances of a very old dinosaur lineage before it disappeared. The animal has been named Ptychotherates bucculentus, a name that means “folded hunter with full cheeks.” The description fits. Its skull was badly distorted before fossilization and then flattened further over time, leaving researchers to digitally sort out a jumble of bones. But …

The shocking fossils that show T. rex wasn’t the king of the dinosaurs

The shocking fossils that show T. rex wasn’t the king of the dinosaurs

Published by skeptic

When you come for the king, you best not miss – particularly if the king in question is a 9-tonne dinosaur with the biggest teeth of any known land predator in history. “Tyrannosaurus rex: the tyrant lizard king. That name is so cool, and it’s just developed tremendous loyalty,” says Greg Paul, an independent dinosaur researcher based in Maryland. “There’s even a rock band named for the animal.” Decades of settled science suggest the famous dinosaur was so formidable that it had a stranglehold on its ecosystem. It wasn’t just an apex predator; it was the apex predator of its time, having out-muscled everything else. Late last year, however, a small number of palaeontologists attempted to cut T. rex down to size. Based on incredible new fossils, they argued that the so-called king actually coexisted with at least two other tyrannosaurs – meaning it was just one hunter among several that stalked North America in the dying days of the Mesozoic Era. When these scientists came for the king, they didn’t miss. Just months after …

Rex Culpepper death: Former Syracuse QB and son of Survivor stars dies at 28 after dirt bike accident

Rex Culpepper death: Former Syracuse QB and son of Survivor stars dies at 28 after dirt bike accident

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Rex Culpepper, the son of former Survivor players Brad and Monica Culpepper, has died at 28 years old. The former Syracuse University quarterback died from injuries sustained in a dirt bike accident in Georgia on Saturday. The school’s football team released a statement on social media following the news, sharing a photo from Culpepper’s time on the field. “Our Orange family mourns the loss of Rex Culpepper, who passed away this weekend at the age of 28,” the X post read. “Rex lived his life with endless passion, having overcome cancer at the age of 20 while playing for the Orange. Appearing in 30 games, Rex played football as fierce as he lived life. Our hearts are with the Culpepper family & all those who loved him.” Culpepper’s father Brad was also a football player in the NFL as a defensive …

Let’s learn about Tyrannosaurus rex

Let’s learn about Tyrannosaurus rex

Published by skeptic

birds: Warm-blooded dinosaurs with wings that first showed up at least 150 million years ago. Birds are jacketed in feathers and produce young from the eggs they deposit in some sort of nest. Most birds fly, but throughout history there have been the occasional species that don’t. Cretaceous: A geologic time period that included the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. Spanning 145 million to 66 million years ago, it was a time when the whole planet had a relatively mild climate, with forests growing near both the North and South Poles. It marked the emergence of flowering plants and massive volcanic eruptions, which triggered big shifts in ocean ecosystems. And some regions cooled, leading dinosaurs there to adapt by evolving a coat of insulating feathers. Finally, it all came to an end 66 million years ago when a giant meteorite crashed into Earth, changing the global climate overnight. This wiped out all the dinosaurs (except those that would survive as birds), along with half of all plant and animal species. dinosaur: A term that …

Reba McEntire confirms major wedding setback for nuptials with Rex Linn

Reba McEntire confirms major wedding setback for nuptials with Rex Linn

Published by Daniella Wilson

Fans of Reba McEntire and her fiancé, Rex Linn, likely won’t see the couple walk down the aisle until at least 2027, as the country star revealed at the Grammy Awards.  The 70-year-old shared that despite getting engaged at the end of 2024, work was more of a priority for the pair than saying “I do”.  “We’re still waiting on a third season pickup from Happy’s Place. And Rex got picked up on Stick with Owen Wilson, so that pushed the wedding back,” she explained to E! News. “[Rex] says, ‘Work comes first.’”  © Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TheReba revealed that their wedding was delayed due to work commitments The duo currently co-star in the NBC sitcom Happy’s Place, which was renewed for a third season just a day after Reba’s Grammys appearance.  “Both St. Denis Medical and Happy’s Place have delivered comedic brilliance over their first two seasons, truly connecting with our audience with hilarious characters, and remain hugely important and successful programs to our primetime and Peacock lineup,” said Lisa Katz, President of Scripted …

Tyrannosaurus rex took 40 years to reach full size

Tyrannosaurus rex took 40 years to reach full size

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Tyrannosaurus rex is arguably the world’s most famous dinosaur, yet paleontologists are still learning more about this giant “tyrant lizard king.” T. rex roamed the western United States during the Cretaceous Period about 145 to 66 million years ago, and was likely alive when the meteor that kicked off all non-avian dinosaur’s extinction struck. Based on the annual growth rings (like those on trees) within fossilized leg bones, scientists  estimate that T. rex usually reach adulthood at around 25 years old. However, new research argues that their growth phase lasted  significantly longer. They may have become fully grown—approximately eight tons—after 40 years. The paper was recently published in the journal PeerJ. To produce an updated timeline of tyrannosaur growth, scientists studied 17 tyrannosaur specimens of all ages. “We came up with a new statistical approach that stitches together growth records from different specimens to estimate the growth trajectory of T. rex across all stages of life in greater detail …

T. rex took 40 years to become fully grown

T. rex took 40 years to become fully grown

Published by skeptic

Tyrannosaurus rex was a late bloomer Science Photo Library / Alamy The largest-ever analysis of Tyrannosaurus rex fossils suggests the giant and fierce Cretaceous predator was a late bloomer, taking 35 to 40 years to reach maturity. The findings also further the debate about whether there were several T. rex species instead of just one and whether smaller specimens, once thought to be juveniles, are in fact a more diminutive species called Nanotyrannus. Based on studies done two decades ago, it had been thought that T. rex reached its maximum weight of 8 tonnes in around two decades and that the animals probably only lived until they were 30 years old. “The last big T. rex growth studies were done in the early 2000s, based on, at most, seven specimens,” says Holly Ballard at Oklahoma State University. “This wasn’t the fault of the researchers, this is just what was available at the time.” This time, Ballard and her colleagues were able to sample the thigh and shin bones of 17 individuals, ranging in age from …

Newfound fossil is not a teen T. rex but a whole new species

Newfound fossil is not a teen T. rex but a whole new species

Published by skeptic

asteroid: A rocky object in orbit around the sun. Most asteroids orbit in a region that falls between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers refer to this region as the asteroid belt. basic research: Research performed to gain a general understanding of how things work, and not with any particular application in mind. This type of work is contrasted with applied research, which is work done to accomplish a particular purpose — such as to cure disease, make a building stronger or make a fuel burn cleaner. coexist: To exist at the same time as or along with. cranial nerves: Pairs of nerves in mammals and dinosaurs that connect the brain directly to muscles and organs of the head and torso. Cretaceous Period: The latter age of dinosaurs, it spanned from 145 million to 66 million years ago, it was a time when the whole planet had a relatively mild climate, with forests growing near both the North and South Poles. It marked the emergence of flowering plants and massive volcanic eruptions, which triggered big …