Overview
- Peer-reviewed findings in Evolving Earth report bite-mark evidence that a smaller tyrannosaur fed on a larger relative about 75 million years ago.
- Researchers documented 16 distinct tooth impressions on a 10-centimeter metatarsal from Montana’s Judith River Formation with no signs of healing, which points to scavenging rather than an attack on a living animal.
- The marks sit on a foot bone with little flesh and match the tooth spacing of a smaller tyrannosaur, indicating it cleaned the last scraps from the carcass of the same species or a close relative.
- The team worked from high-resolution 3D scans and a 3D-printed model and used the CM (Category-Modifier) system to log each mark’s depth, angle, and spacing for an objective read of behavior.
- An amateur collector found the fossil and donated it to the Badlands Dinosaur Museum, and the study adds nuance to tyrannosaur ecology while showing how digital methods and museum collections unlock new clues from small traces.