Re: News story: Did We Get Dinosaurs' Noses Wrong?

[Darryl Jones <dinoguy@sympatico.ca>]

At 12:29 AM 8/8/2001, Chris Srnka wrote:
> I think Stan's dental situation isn't exactly the normative one for 
> _T.rex_...as has been hinted at before, the extruding teeth are most 
> likely evidence of a pathology. Regardless-yes, it seems they were without 
> any kind of covering over the teeth...(I tried to reflect that in one of 
> my illustrations, and I'm going to have to rework a lot of my older ones 
> to line up with this...**rolls up sleeves**)

Why is it so difficult for people to believe that this is just another case 
of teeth slipping out of their sockets?  There are plenty of examples of 
this happening (that is, teeth with roots being found next to 
specimens).  There are even examples of this in other tyrannosaurids (AMNH 
5664).  The teeth slipped post mortem and either could not be pushed back 
into the jaw in the specimen now, or they are being left like that because 
now it has the longest teeth of any T. rex ever.

A simple thing that seems to be missed in this is that, coverings or no 
coverings, "Stan" would have trouble opening its mouth wide enough to be as 
effective a hunter as its fellow T. rex.



Darryl Jones  <dinoguy@sympatico.ca>

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