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Fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex Was a Sensitive Lover, Say Scientists

mrpg [soylentnews.org] writes:

He may have been the most terrifying carnivore ever to have walked the Earth but the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex was apparently also a sensitive lover.

Experts say the 20ft T-rex had an extremely sensitive snout, which could mean that males and females enjoyed rubbing their faces together while mating.

[...] It is believed that T-rex had large, flat scales on its face, with areas of tough protective skin around the snout and jaws.

But the hard surface around the nose was penetrated by small nerve openings, which would have allowed hundreds of branches of the trigeminal nerve - responsible for sensation in the face - to run through to the surface of the dinosaur's nose.

This would effectively have turned the T-rex's face into a kind of third "hand", as sensitive to touch as a human finger tip.

Other animals also have this sensitivity nerve - cats through their whiskers and crocodiles in their snouts to sense touch and vibrations in the water. Migrating birds also use it to detect magnetic fields.

Source: Fearsome Tyrannosaurus Rex Was a Sensitive Lover, Say Scientists [sky.com]

Tyrannosaurus Rex Was a Sensitive Lover, New Dinosaur Discovery Suggests

charon [soylentnews.org] writes:

It made its name by terrorising Earth at the end of the Late Cretaceous, but Tyrannosaurus rex had a sensitive side too [theguardian.com], researchers have found.

The fearsome carnivore, which stood 20 feet tall and ripped its prey to shreds with dagger-like teeth, had a snout as sensitive to touch as human fingertips, say scientists.

T rex and other tyrannosaurs would have used their tactile noses to explore their surroundings, build nests, and carefully pick up fragile eggs and baby offspring.

But the snout is thought to have served another purpose. Experts believe that males and females rubbed their sensitive faces together in a prehistoric form of foreplay.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the US authors describe how the sensitive skin may have proved crucial to the dinosaur’s mating success. “In courtship, tyrannosaurids might have rubbed their sensitive faces together as a vital part of pre-copulatory play,” they explain.

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