Re: T. rex eating habits

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

> > I have a question related to to "jaw power" question posted earlier.  My
> > 10-year-old asked me today:
> >
> >     Did T.rex eat things whole, bones and all?
> >
> > I told her I would ask the experts.

[Hopefully Molnar and Fiorillo, respectively, will have something to say
about the above.]

>Dinosaur teeth are undifferentiated (i.e. unlike ours they are all the
>same).  T. rex teeth are peg-like with a sharpe ridge along the trailing
>edge.

Not entirely true - tyrannosaurids, troodontids, and a few other theropods
have incisiform premaxillary teeth which are distinct from maxillary and
dentary teeth.  Tyrannosaurid non-premaxillary teeth are not the flattened,
serrated "blades" of most theropods, but are more like bananas with
carinae, with regards to shape and (in T. rex) size.

However, none of this alters the additional comments (i.e., that
tyrannosaurids do not have crushing teeth the way some mammals do.).

                                
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                                   
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov
Vertebrate Paleontologist                           Phone:      703-648-5280
U.S. Geological Survey                                FAX:      703-648-5420
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092
U.S.A.