Merdeka.com – There have been surprising new findings regarding T-rex or Tyrannosaurus and its relatives. According to scientists, T-rex must have had lips, as opposed to previous depictions of these predatory dinosaurs having large teeth sticking out of their mouths.
According to the researchers, there are three lines of evidence for this new finding; the anatomy of the skull and jaws in the theropod group that includes all meat-eating dinosaurs, the wear patterns of their teeth, and the relationship between tooth size and skull size.
These three things indicate the presence of structures such as lips.
“Our research suggests that theropod dinosaurs did not have protruding teeth when their mouths were closed,” said paleontologist at the University of Auburn Alabama, USA, and lead of the research team, Thomas Cullen, quoted from The Hindu page, Sunday (2/4).
According to Cullen, the lips of this dinosaur could be different from the lips of other mammals, and more like the lips of a lizard or amphibian. Technically, these dinosaur lips weren’t called lips, but “labial scales.”
Popular culture often depicts T-rex and other carnivorous dinosaurs as having protruding teeth like crocodiles. As depicted in the film Jurassic Park (1993). But in reality, the researchers say, T-rex’s teeth were likely covered in soft facial tissue like most land reptiles, including the Komodo dragon.
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Cullen said, closed lips will help the secretion of saliva in the mouth and keep the enamel hydrated. If teeth are allowed to dry out, they can be more susceptible to damage when eating or fighting. This is not ideal for the most ferocious fighters.
Tests for the relationship between tooth size and skull size undercut the idea that large theropods had teeth too large for lips to cover. The study identified a species of large lipped lizard still living today, which had proportionally larger teeth than T. rex.
In crocodiles, the teeth show asymmetrical wear, with the exposed side of the tooth facing outward being more damaged than the inside. No such asymmetrical wear was detected when scientists examined fossilized teeth, for example Daspletosaurus, a close cousin of T. rex, which showed lips.
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