Bombastic music, brave adventurers and sharp-toothed dinosaurs. In Jurassic Park, the fangs of the T-Rex have terrified several generations of spectators. What if the tyrannosaur’s canine teeth were hidden well inside their mouth? This is what an American study suggests, which tarnishes the image of the T-Rex with its predatory smile imagined by Steven Spielberg.
“Contrary to the representations that have dominated for more than a century (…) the T-Rex had lips that covered their teeth, making them look more like Komodo dragons than crocodiles”, write the authors of this study. published on March 30 in the journal Science.
A fragile enamel
To reach its conclusions, paleontologists relied on the shape of tyrannosaur skulls displayed in several natural history museums around the world. The alignment of the teeth towards the inside of the jaw would make it impossible for the presence of long teeth protruding from either side of the mouth of prehistoric animals.
The researchers also compared the enamel wear of T-Rex and crocodiles, the living animals closest to these dinosaurs. The enamel on the exterior part in crocodiles wears out faster than that present on the interior part because they are exposed to water, to air.
“It was not the same configuration in the large tyrannosaurs”, assures Thomas Cullen, one of the authors of the study. Teaching of this study, the enamel of the T-Rex would be more fragile. “If it had been exposed to the air for too long, it would have become crumbly and it would have been more likely to crack or catch a disease,” adds the paleontologist. Lips would therefore have been necessary to protect him. These new findings contradict a previous study published in 2017 which imagined a tyrannosaurus with exposed teeth.
Bigger and smarter
The image of these large prehistoric animals therefore evolves over the discoveries and debates between paleontologists. Last January, a study published in the scientific journal Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences suggested that these dinosaurs were two to three times larger than previously predicted. According to the researchers, the largest specimens would have reached 15 tons and peaked at more than 7 m in height.
Another recent discovery about the most famous of carnivorous dinosaurs, its intelligence would have been underestimated for many years. In December 2022, a team of Brazilian researchers demonstrated that the T-Rex was as intelligent as a primate.
With more than three billion neurons, the apex predator “had what it takes to build tools, solve problems and live to be 40 years old, enough to build a culture”, explains Suzana Herculano-Houzel, one of the scientists behind this discovery. “Reality was actually more terrifying than the movies,” concludes the researcher in a video posted on Twitter. With all its new assumptions, and despite its redesigned smile, the T-Rex continues to scare.