Overview
- Published on February 17, 2026 in PeerJ, the research was led by Montana State University’s Museum of the Rockies and the University of Alberta.
- Comparisons of tooth shape and features identify Tyrannosaurus as the closest match among Hell Creek carnivores.
- CT scans reveal no healing around the wound, leaving uncertain whether the bite was fatal or occurred after death.
- The tooth’s position in the snout points to a face-to-face, forceful bite consistent with efforts to control a struggling animal.
- The skull, found in 2005 in Montana’s Hell Creek Formation on Bureau of Land Management land, was scanned at Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital and is now on view in the museum’s Hall of Horns and Teeth.