1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: Voleebaum here. The science fiction film Jurassic Park from nineteen 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: ninety three didn't just bring dinosaurs back to the forefront 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: of pop culture consciousness, It actually inspired some science of 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: its own. The film establishes early on that the Tyrannosaurus 6 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: rex's vision is based on movement, so the characters can 7 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: escape its notice if they can stand very still. That 8 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: got computer scientist Kent Stevens thinking. In two thousand and six, 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: he compared the eye socket orientation of several carnivorous dinos. 10 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: T Rex included. When you look straight ahead, the area 11 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,880 Speaker 1: that both eyes can see simultaneously is called your binocular 12 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: field of view. The wider your binocular field of view, 13 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: the better your depth perception. So how did t Rex 14 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: measure up? According to Stephen's finding, these dinosaurs possessed an 15 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: impressive binocular field of view up to fifty five degrees wide. 16 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: Not even the hawks we have today can match this figure, 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: meaning Tyrannosaurus probably had great depth perception and division in general. 18 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,320 Speaker 1: Of course, people were fascinated by the t rex long 19 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 1: before Jurassic Park came out. The paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborne 20 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: coined the dinosaur's name in nineteen oh five, derived from 21 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: Latin and Greek Tyrannosaurus rex means tyrant lizard king. Osborne 22 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: named the species on the basis of an incomplete skeleton 23 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: found by the legendary fossil hunter Barnum Brown at a 24 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:45,080 Speaker 1: Montana dig site in nineteen oh two. Two years before that, 25 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: Brown had discovered another carnivorous dinosaurs remains in eastern Wyoming. 26 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: A close inspection would prove it belonged to the same species, 27 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: although Osborne didn't recognize that at first. Osbourne's workplace, the 28 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: American Museum of now History in New York City, eventually 29 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: mounted one of Brown's t Rex specimens in nineteen fifteen. 30 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 1: Then the film industry stepped in. A stop motion animator 31 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: Willis O'Brien brought the beast to life for nineteen eighteen's 32 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:19,679 Speaker 1: The Ghost of Slumber Mountain and Early Dinosaur Flick. And 33 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: t Rex has stayed in the public eye ever since. 34 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 1: As science historian Jane Davidson once noted, it's the animal 35 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 1: that probably springs to mind when most of us hear 36 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: the word dinosaur. Remains of around fifty individual Tyrannosaurus have 37 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: been found in western North America. These range from isolated 38 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: backbones to almost full skeletons claws down. The most complete 39 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: t Rex yet discovered is Sue, a beautiful find from 40 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: South Dakota. This celebrity skeleton is now on display at 41 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: the Chicago Field Museum. A Scientists have identified three hundred 42 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: and eighty bones that full grown Tyrannosaurus would have possessed. 43 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: Siou contains two hundred and fifty of these and is 44 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: about ninety percent complete by bulk of bones. Sue is 45 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: also one of the bigger skeletons on record. A t 46 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: Rex could grow to a hip height of roughly twelve 47 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: feet that's three point six meters, and could be forty 48 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,959 Speaker 1: feet in length that's twelve meters. The skull alone is 49 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: over four feet long in large adults that's about one 50 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: point two meters. Only a couple known species of dinosaurs 51 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: may have been bigger. Gigantosaurus, a predatory dinosaur native to 52 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: what's now South America, might have been a midge longer 53 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: than t Rex, a couple extra feet from nose to tail, 54 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: and the fin backed Spinosaurus from what's now Africa could 55 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: have been over fifty two feet or sixteen meters long. 56 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: Guessing any dinosaur's weight is not an easy task because 57 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: generally speaking, their fossilized bones are what we have to 58 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: go on, and that doesn't tell us very much about 59 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: how filled out they might have been. I mean, if 60 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: you had to guess that what a penguin looked like 61 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,480 Speaker 1: based just on bones, you might never make the jump 62 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: to the plump, well insulated bird. But by one calculation, 63 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: a full grown t Rex would have pushed some seventeen 64 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: thousand pounds that's about seven thousand, seven hundred kilos. At 65 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: that size, Tyrannosaurus may have been heavier than Gigantosaurus or Spinosaurus. 66 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: All three of these creatures actually belonged to the same group, 67 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: a huge and diverse array of dinosaurs known as the theropods. 68 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: Tyrannosaurus was part of a subgroup known as the tyrannosauroids. 69 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: T Rex was the largest and one of the last. 70 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: This subgroup first appeared in what's now Eurasia one hundred 71 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:53,159 Speaker 1: and seventy million years ago during Earth's Jurassic Period. These 72 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: critters started small. An early species was only about the 73 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: size of an adult human being. Geologically speaking, t Rex 74 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: had a brief rain. The fossils this giant left behind 75 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: range from sixty eight to sixty five and a half 76 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: million years of age, so Tyrannosaurus was around to see 77 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: the last days of the Cretaceous period, which ended with 78 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: a mass extinction event. Birds, which are modern therapods, were 79 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: the only dinosaurs to survive this ordeal. At some point, 80 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: the tyrannosaurids entered what's now North America. No t Rex 81 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: remains have ever been found outside of this continent, but 82 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: a twenty sixteen paper speculates that the species could have 83 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: originated in Asia and later spread to the Americas. In 84 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 1: other words, perhaps Tyrannosaurus rex was an invasive species A 85 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: Judging by the bone microstructure evidence, it would have taken 86 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: to Tyrannosaurus twenty years or so to attain its maximum size. 87 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: Maturity came with some lifestyle changes. Adult t Rex had thick, 88 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: bananas shaped teeth, rigid skulls, and seriously powerful jaw muscles. 89 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,040 Speaker 1: Those attributes gave the dinosaurs a punishing bite force of 90 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: around seven tons a, meaning that like hyenas, mature Trannosaurus 91 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 1: or consummate bone crushers. On the other hand, juvenile t 92 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 1: rex had narrow blade like teeth and weaker jaws, so 93 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: instead of ripping prey apart and eating them pretty much whole, 94 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: the youngsters probably specialized in slicing meat off of prey. Proportionally, 95 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: adolescent t rex had longer arms and legs than their 96 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: parents did. The forelimbs on an adult trannosaurus were only 97 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: about three feet long that's around a meter, which looked 98 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: kind of puny when you take their total body size 99 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: into account. Nobody knows what the function of these forelimbs was. 100 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,559 Speaker 1: Maybe the pendages were hooks used to grasp struggling prey, 101 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: or maybe they helped the dinosaurs hang on to their 102 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: partners during intercourse. Their hind limbs were huge and powerful, 103 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: but according to biomechanical research published in twenty seventeen, t 104 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: rex legs weren't built for running. Instead, the dinosaur was 105 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: more of a speed walker, astriding across the prehistoric countryside 106 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: up to around twelve miles an hour that's nineteen kilometers 107 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: an hour. They were not picky about their meals, though 108 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: bitemarks attributed to this carnivore have been found on the 109 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: bones of triceratops on duck billed plant eaters called pattersaurids, 110 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: and even other Tyrannosaurus skeletons. Yes, friends, the tyrant lizard 111 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: king probably ate its own kind. Also, on top of 112 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: being a sharp eyed predator, Tyrannosaurus had a keen sense 113 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: of smell, as is evidenced by the contours of its 114 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: brain cavity. Today's episode is based on the article Tyrannosaurus 115 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: Rex was the Tyrant Lizard King on housdifforks dot com, 116 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: written by Mark Mancini. The brain Stuff is production of 117 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio in partnership with houstfforks dot Com and is produced 118 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: by Tyler Kuang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 119 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 120 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.