page_title: Feeding behaviour of Tyrannosaurus
section_title: Feeding behavior
hierarchical_section_title: Feeding behaviour of Tyrannosaurus / Feeding behavior
caption_attribution_description: Tyrannosaurus (MOR 1125, “B-rex”) teeth from the lower jaw of this medium-sized skeleton illustrate the extreme range in overall tooth size within one individual. The black scale bar is 5cm long. Above: A smaller posterior tooth from position #14 from the front of the jaw. Below: A larger tooth from position #4 in the same jaw. This demonstrates why shed dinosaur teeth are not a reliable indicator of relative skeletal size and ontogenetic age.
context_page_description: The feeding behaviour of Tyrannosaurus rex has been studied extensively. The well known attributes of T. rex are often interpreted to be indicative of either a predatory or scavenging lifestyle, and as such the biomechanics, feeding strategies and diet of Tyrannosaurus have been subject to much research and debate.
context_section_description: A few studies have also focused on Tyrannosaurus complex feeding habits. Tyrannosaurus, and most other theropods, probably primarily processed carcasses with lateral shakes of the head, like crocodilians. The head was not as maneuverable as the skulls of allosauroids, due to flat joints of the neck vertebrae. Eric Snively and Anthony Russell further elaborates in a study published in 2007 that Tyrannosaurus had a powerful neck that would have enabled it to strike rapidly at prey and take on complex and modulated inertial feeding; a way of feeding used by modern archosaurs that involved the animal ripping away chunks of meat, tossing it into the air and swallowing it. A team of paleontologists, led by Denver Fowler from the University of the Rockies would later discover that Tyrannosaurus employed a complex feeding strategy to consume Triceratops after analyzing various specimens. This involved the theropod repositioning and tearing off the head of the dead Triceratops, so that it could consume its meal's nutrient-rich neck muscles. Studies of Tyrannosaurus's teeth have also revealed that the animal's dentition was more complex than previously imagined. Researchers Kirstin Brink, Robert Reisz et all found that Tyrannosaurus and other carnivorous theropods were equipped with teeth that were highly complex for carnivores; specialized layers of dentine enlarged the serration on the inside of the tooth structure. This unique structure, found in other large predators from other prehistoric eras, and found only in the modern Komodo dragon today is perfectly designed to handle the stresses of ripping into the flesh and biting into the bones of large prey animals without suffering large amounts of wear. This unique feature allowed theropods such as Tyrannosaurus to flourish for the entirety of their existence.
   
  More findings have also shed light on how Tyrannosaurus interacted with each other. When examining Sue, paleontologist Pete Larson found a broken and healed fibula and tail vertebrae, scarred facial bones and a tooth from another Tyrannosaurus embedded in a neck vertebra. If correct, these might be strong evidence for aggressive behavior between tyrannosaurs but whether it would have been competition for food and mates or active cannibalism is unclear. However, further recent investigation of these purported wounds has shown that most are infections rather than injuries (or simply damage to the fossil after death) and the few injuries are too general to be indicative of intraspecific conflict.
caption: Two teeth from the lower jaw of specimen MOR 1125, "B-rex", showing the variation in tooth size within an individual
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