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Irish Independent

Many types of dinosaur had weaker bites than thought, say researchers

Researchers found that, while dinosaurs like the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex were optimised for quick, strong bites – much like a crocodile – many others that walked on two legs, such as the Spinosaurus and Allosaurs, had much weaker bite forces. They instead specialised in slashing and ripping flesh. The research, published in the journal Current Biology, revealed that meat-eating dinosaurs followed many different evolutionary paths in terms of skull design and feeding style, despite their similarly gigantic sizes. 'Tyrannosaurs evolved skulls built for strength and crushing bites, while other lineages had comparatively weaker but more specialised skulls, suggesting a diversity of feeding strategies even at massive sizes,' said Andre Rowe, a palaeobiology research associate at the Univeristy of Bristol and one of the study's authors. 'In other words, there wasn't one 'best' skull design for being a predatory giant; several designs functioned perfectly well,' he added. In the study, scientists probed how walking on two legs influenced skull mechanics and feeding techniques in dinosaurs. 'Carnivorous dinosaurs took very different paths as they evolved into giants in terms of feeding biomechanics and possible behaviours,' Dr Rowe said. Evolution can produce multiple 'solutions' to life as a large, carnivorous biped To understand the relationship between body size and skull biomechanics, researchers used 3D X-ray scanning technology to analyse skull mechanics, and quantify the feeding performance and bite strength of 18 species of two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs ranging in size from small to giant. Researchers were surprised to find clear divergence among the species. For instance, skull stress didn't show a pattern of increase with size. Some smaller dinosaurs even experienced greater stress than the larger species due to increased muscle volume and bite force. ADVERTISEMENT 'Tyrannosaurids like T-rex had skulls that were optimised for high bite forces at the cost of higher skull stress,' Dr Rowe said. 'But in some other giants, like Giganotosaurus, we calculated stress patterns suggesting a relatively lighter bite. 'It drove home how evolution can produce multiple 'solutions' to life as a large, carnivorous biped.' 'Large tyrannosaur skulls were instead optimised like modern crocodiles, with high bite forces that crushed prey. I tend to compare Allosaurus to a modern Komodo dragon in terms of feeding style. 'This biomechanical diversity suggests that dinosaur ecosystems supported a wider range of giant carnivore ecologies than we often assume.'