American scientists examined the bones of the skeletons of T. rex. In particular, they looked at the femur and the teeth in the lower jaw. Seeing the main differences in bone size, among other things, they want to divide T. rex into three species: Tyranosaurus imperator, Tyranosaurus regina, and the species named Tyranosaurus rex.
Unconvinced
According to research, the Trix in Naturalis may not be a T. rex. So while the dinosaur is the symbol of the museum. T. rex skeletons are very rare.
Also, the Trix is the only game of its kind outside the United States. But when it turned out that Rex was not actually a T. rex but a different type of dinosaur, it wasn’t very special anymore.
If the theory of American scientists is correct, then the “king of the dinosaurs” will lose some of his iconic status. Anne Schulp, a paleontologist at Naturalis is not yet convinced by this theory. “These are hugely small differences. For example, a femur a few centimeters thick or a certain T-Rex has larger canine teeth,” Schulp told EditieNL.
Fossils in a drawer
According to paleontology, it is normal for one bone to be larger than the other. “There are also many differences between humans, but we are all Homo sapiens. So that’s one species.” According to him, it is difficult to determine whether these were different types of dinosaurs.
In order to find out whether the animals are of the same species, it is checked whether they can have good offspring. “It’s easy to see in living animals now,” Schulp says. “It becomes more difficult with extinct species. It’s hard to put some fossils in a drawer and see if they’re reproducing. Of course that doesn’t work.”
collective term
Let’s say Trix turns out to be not a T-Rex, would that make her any less famous? Consumer psychologist Patrick Wessels does not believe. “Such a small change in species will not guarantee that people will stay at home,” he told EditieNL.
Wessels thinks the dinosaur picture won’t be affected by the research. “To a lot of people, T. rex has already become a household name, sort of an almost collective term for dinosaurs. That’s why I think if researchers were right, everyone would continue to call it T. rex.”
