A new study suggests that over the span of a few million years, up to 2.5 billion Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaurs lived on Earth.
However, the research shows that not many of these powerful creatures lived in the same place at the same time.
Tyrannosaurus Rex, commonly known as T. rex, existed on Earth for millions of years. Scientists involved in the study estimated that about 2.5 billion of them lived over a period of 2.4 million years. The dinosaurs mainly lived in the area of the world now known as North America.
A team at the University of California at Berkeley devised a method to estimate how many T. rex, called “the dinosaur king,” had ever lived. The findings were recently published in the journal Science
The method was intended to establish a relationship between body size and population density. The scientists based their research on the theory that the larger an animal, the smaller the population will be.
To arrive at a total number, the team considered the dinosaur’s body size, sexually maturity and energy needs. Experts say it is the first time such an estimate has been made.
Some scientists who study dinosaurs said they were very interested in the new findings.
Kristi Curry Rogers is a paleobiologist at Macalester College. She said she was “one take doubleWhen she saw the number.
Charles Marshall was the main writer on the study. He is the director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology.
‘There are many jaws, “he said.” That’s a lot of teeth. That’s a lot claws
The researchers said a city the size of Washington DC would likely have only had two T. rex in the area. They estimate that about 4,000 would have lived on a piece of land the size of a large state, such as California.
The estimates are helpful to scientists studying dinosaurs, as it helps them understand the percentage of T. rex bones or fossils that survived.
Marshall said only about 100 identifiable T. rex fossils have ever been found. That means if there had been only 2.5 million dinosaurs, people might never have heard about it.
The scientists believed that a T. rex lived for about 28 years and had food needs somewhere between a large lizard and a lion.
Since all numbers are estimates only, the scientists say the results are not perfect. They think it is possible that the actual number of T. rex was somewhere between 140 million and 42 billion. The middle number is about 2.4 billion.
Some people may wonder why scientists choose to study animals that lived so long ago. James Farlow, a geology professor at Purdue University, gave his opinion. He said he believes the study is important, but also, “Things like this are bad cool
I am Dan Friedell.
Seth Borenstein from The Associated Press wrote this story. Dan Friedell adapted it to teach English. Bryan Lynn was the editor.
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Words in this story
maturity –N. to make an official decision (something), mainly because of evidence or facts to determine (something) precisely or with authority
take double –N. an act of quickly looking at something surprising or unusual a second time after looking at it a moment earlier
jaw –N. one of the two bones of the face where the teeth grow
claw –N. a sharply curved part on the toe of an animal (such as a cat or bird)
cool –Adj. very fashionable, stylish or attractive