Scientists Say T. Rex Had Three-Ton Bite
And now for a brief bit of dinosaur geekery: Researchers at the University of Manchester had the fun job of putting together a computer model of a Tyrannosaurus rex skull that gave them a clearer idea about the bygone species’ bite, which turns out to be more impressive than previously believed. –KA
BBC:
Dr Karl Bates from the biomechanics laboratory at the University of Liverpool led the research.
He and his colleague, Peter Falkingham from the University of Manchester, used the life-sized copy of a T. rex skeleton exhibited at Manchester Museum as a model for their study. “We digitised the skull with a laser scanner, so we had a 3-D model of the skull on our computer,” Dr Bates explained.
“Then we could map the muscles onto that skull.”
The scientists then reproduced the full force of a bite by activating the muscles to contract fully – snapping the digital jaws shut.