T-Rex Bigger and Hungrier Than Previously Thought

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday October 12, 2011 @04:34PM from the super-size-my-dinosaur dept.

gpronger writes "Researchers John Hutchinson (Royal Veterinary College in London) and Peter Makovicky (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) built digital models of a T-Rex and then added flesh using the structure of soft tissues in birds and crocodiles as a guide. This allowed them to project body mass. By doing this for a number of specimens of different age and size, they could also evaluate growth. At maximum, the adolescents could add 11 pounds in weight in a single day. The adult was found to be 30% heavier than earlier estimates, at more than 9 tons. With this size and appetite, they would need a large range, and therefore also be relatively rare in the ecosystem of the time."

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Re:Seems unscientific by Dr_Snugglebunny · 2011-10-12 17:17 · Score: 5, Informative

What? Read the paper. They used the real skeletons (5 of them), not birds or crocodiles, as models.
The researchers' website:
http://bit.ly/qlfC2i
And the paper: (free to all! open access yay!)
http://bit.ly/ruvel3
Re:Seems unscientific by artor3 · 2011-10-12 18:07 · Score: 3, Informative

The summary is inaccurate, as always. The actual abstract openly states that there is some subjectivity, and gives a range of 6000-8000 kg, with only one particularly large specimin topping 9 tons.