by Blood vessel structures that have been preserved in a famous TREX -Fossil help scientists to understand how dinosaurs were healed from injuries.
A study recently published in the journal Scientific reports Analyzes structures in a ribbed bone of Scotty, the world’s largest known Tyrannosaurus Rex Excavated in Saskatchewan, Canada in the nineties.
Scotty, who named for a solemn bottle of Scotch on the night on which it was discovered, probably had a weight of over 8.8 tons.
Perhaps it was one of the oldest Rexes of his time and led an unusually long and violent life far into the early 1930s.
Earlier studies by Scotty have highlighted pathologies on the monstrous dinosaurs, including scarred bone spots that record great injuries.
Recently, the convergence of a combination of techniques such as chemical analysis using the radiation of particle accelerators, 3D scanning and computer-aided model structure has made better examinations of the preserved soft tissue in dinosaur fossils.
The researchers initially discovered a strange structure in a scan from Scotty’s rib and quickly realized that they could possibly receive blood vessels.
With the help of X-ray scans, they then created a detailed 3D model of both T REX Bone and soft tissue structures in them without damaging the 66 million year old fossil.
Scientists also used chemical analysis techniques to identify the various elements and molecules that make up the blood vessel structures.
This enabled them to theorize how the structures were preserved for millions of years.
“Here we show a characterization of a network of large ship structures in a rib of ‘RSKM P2523.8’ (Royal Saskatchewan Museum), an exceptionally robust Tyrannosaurus Rex, which can be found in the French formation of Saskatchewan, Canada, in which the deceased chalk-like-German,” wrote the scientists in the study.
Bones that are subjected to fractures can lead to a rapid increase in blood vessel activity in order to facilitate healing.
“New ships branch off old vessels from normal bones and expand towards the fracture to bring nutrients to make healing the injury easier,” said the scientists.
The researchers found such signs of a healed fracture in one of Scotty’s ribs, probably from the fight with another dinosaurs.
According to scientists, the determination could provide important insights into the healing potential of A T REX.
“Preserved blood vessel structures, as we found in Scotty’s ribs, seem to be connected to areas in which the bone was healing. This is because these areas had increased blood flow during the healing process,” said Mauricio Barbi, co-author of the University of Regina in Canada.
“This work also offers a new way to compare how injuries are healed in extinct animals such as dinosaurs, with living species such as birds and reptiles that help us understand the biology of the past better and also how life on earth has developed over millions of years.”
The researchers hope that such signs of bone healing and growing up can offer a promising goal for future studies in order to better understand dinosaurs -soft tissue structures.
