Anybody who has watched any of the Jurassic Park movies or been allowed to go through the phase of childhood obsession with dinosaurs knows one thing above all others; the Tyrannosaurus Rex, despite its weirdly small arms, was the unquestioned king of the late Cretaceous period. Earlier this month, scientists completed a study on perhaps the most famous of all dinosaurs, carnivorous or otherwise, with some bone-crunching new data and that is not hyperbole, it’s actually the crux of the study. The estimated strength of Tyrannosaurus’ bite force (which is measured in pounds of force per square inch) has been calculated at 7,800 or roughly twice as much as the extant record holder the Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). What this means is that it if the estimate is to be believed, bone-crunching is not just a figure of speech and that Tyrannosaurus may have been able to eat the bones of its prey as well as the flesh. While this may sound like a strange thing to do, humans eat beef bone marrow occasionally as a delicacy due to it’s high calorie content, the difference is we are not physically capable of using our teeth to smash the bones of our meals to get at it.
This study was done using computer models which take into account the size of the T-Rex’s head, muscles, teeth, and jaws, with other probably being involved as well. The particular model also has been used when testing on living crocodilians including the aforementioned salties which gives it more credence that other older estimates may have had. Given that it is reported older estimates put T-Rex’s bite force at over 50,000 pounds, for the sake of all the animals that fell as lunch to this mighty predator it should be hoped that the low end estimate in this case is true.
