A study by the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center and Canadian paleontologist Robert Reisz found that the Tyrannosaurus likely had “saw-like” teeth, which the institute said could be the reason the prehistoric predators dominated for 165 million years.
Project leader Lee Yao-chang (李耀昌) said his team made the discovery by analyzing fossils of juvenile Tyrannosaurus, provided by the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada.
Using infrared micro-spectroscopy, researchers analyzed the carbonation level of hydroxyapatite in the dinosaurs’ teeth.
Photo: National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center
He said that previous studies showed that the teeth were serrulate, which scientists thought was the result of tooth decay.
Scientists compared the dinosaur teeth with those of present-day animals — including humans, felines and crocodiles — and found that hydroxyapatite was present in all of the specimens.
They then compared the characteristic spectrum absorption of carbonated hydroxyapatite in decayed teeth with that of the Tyrannosaurus’ teeth and found that the predators hatch with saw-like teeth.
He said that the saw structures can be seen around the top edge of a Tyrannosaurus tooth and that they were distributed in accordance with the shape of the oral cavity.
“A tooth of a juvenile Tyrannosaur is thought to be about 4cm long and 1cm wide, while that of a full-grown Tyrannosaurus might have been as big as a human adults’ forearm,” Lee said.
Likening the teeth to a “steak knife,” Lee said that the feature likely helped Tyrannosaurus to tear other dinosaurs apart.
“This gives us an insight into why the Tyrannosaurus was the alpha predator for so long,” Lee said.
Lee said the teeth fossils were manual fine-cut with diamonds and sand.
The tooth fossils were cut to 20 micrometers, about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair, so that the infrared, measuring 10 micrometers, could penetrate the specimens.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
RSS