The T. rex, or tyrannosaurus rex, is typically depicted to have sharp razor-like teeth that are visible out in the open. However, new research shows that this may not have been the case. Scientists have discovered that these dinosaurs had lizard-like and scaly lips that sealed their mouths.
T. Rex
As per the Daily Mail, though the sight could still have been terrifying, it shows that the creatures may have been mistakenly depicted in films like Jurassic Park.
These findings resulted from investigating dinosaur and reptile bones from the past and present. According to Science Alert, paleontologists can now finish T. Rex grins and their theropod relatives with scaly and thin lips. They can also learn more about the bone remains of these creatures.
Theropod dinosaurs are a group of dinosaurs with two legs. Previously, they were thought to have mouths without lips with clear top teeth hanging until their jaws. This was similar to that of a crocodile's snout.
Lizard-Like Lips
T.Rex did NOT have exposed teeth - it had scaly, lizard-like LIPS https://t.co/Zp9SWfLX4S
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 30, 2023
However, now a global research team thinks that these creatures had lips that were like lizards and their tuatara relatives, which are rare reptiles that are native to New Zealand. Rather than having the toothy tyrant appearance depicted in Jurassic Park, this creature had a gob that was more similar to that of a Komodo dragon or goanna. Their findings were published in the Science journal.
Dr. Mark Witton, one of the study's co-authors and a paleoartist and paleontologist from the University of Portsmouth, says that dinosaur artists have gone back and forth when it comes to dinosaur lips ever since dinosaurs were being restored in the 19th century. However, illustrating dinosaurs without lips became more common in the 80s and 90s. These were reflected in popular films and franchises, like the famous Jurassic Park.
However, there were no studies that exerted time and effort to evaluate these changes. The depictions could have reflected preferences for dinosaurs that looked ferocious as compared to grounding these depictions on scientific shifts.
The scientists are now upending the widespread depiction of these creatures by having lizard-like lips cover their teeth. This means that Jurassic Park and several other T. Rex's depictions are wrong.
According to Dr. Thomas Cullen, who is from Auburn University in Alabama, the creatures could not snarl or curl their lips back, as reported by ABC News.
Further results showed that dinosaur teeth were not any bigger, relative to the creature's skull size, compared to modern lizards. This suggests that the teeth were not too atypically large to be covered by lips.
These findings offer vital implications for our current understanding of how these creatures lived. It sheds light on their eating mannerisms, jaw functioning, and hunting mechanisms.
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