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acid andy [soylentnews.org] writes:

Scientists have come up with one more reason to be amazed by Tyrannosaurus rex. When the huge carnivorous dinosaur took a bite, it did so with an awe-inspiring force equal to the weight of three small cars [reuters.com], enabling it to crunch bones with ease.

Researchers on Wednesday said a computer model based on the T. rex jaw muscle anatomy and analyses of living relatives like crocodilians and birds showed its bite force measured about 8,000 pounds (3,630 kg), the strongest of any dinosaur ever estimated.

"T. rex could pretty much bite through whatever it wanted, as long as it was made of flesh and bone," said Florida State University paleobiologist Gregory Erickson [fsu.edu].

Given the size of the creature - and the size of what it presumably tried to eat - it makes sense that it evolved those kind of muscles.

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