The Illustrated T-Rex Guide To Eating A Triceratops
Illustrations by Nate Carroll
As any t-rex could tell you, the best triceratops meat is in the neck beneath the frill. And now paleontologists believe they've discovered just how the beasts tore the heads off their prey to get at it. The steps they took (as illustrated above) are as follows: "1) get a good grip on the neck frill 2) tear the head off to expose the tasty neck muscles 3) nibble on the soft flesh of its face and 4) feast on the delicacies beneath the frill." Mmmmm, under-frill delicacies. That sounds like a euphemism for PRIVATES.
"The frill would have been mostly bone and keratin," says Fowler. "Not much to eat there." The pulling action and the presence of deep parallel grooves led the team to realise that these marks were probably not indicative of actual eating, but repositioning of the prey. The scientists suggest that the frills were in the way of Tyrannosaurus as it was trying to get at the nutrient-rich neck muscles.
"It's gruesome, but the easiest way to do this was to pull the head off," explains Fowler with a grin. The researchers found further evidence to support this idea when they examined the Triceratops occipital condyles -- the ball-socket head-neck joint -- and found tooth marks there too. Such marks could only have been made if the animal had been decapitated.It also shows that Tyrannosaurus also had a daintier side. Fowler and his team found precise, even delicate, bites along the front of several Triceratops skulls, and suggest that these are nibbles on the tender meat found on the face.
Well now we know. It's useful information too because now I won't look like an imposter after traveling back in time in a giant t-rex costume and eating a triceratops all wrong. I probably would have gone after the butt first and blown my cover. No t-rex wants to have sex with some bottom-feeder! God, I can't tell you how thankful I am I read this.
Thanks to Inky Bloc, who agrees you should never try to eat a potential lover. Ear nibbling and hickies still okay.
-
In news that shouldn't surprise anyone who finds them so irresistible, paleontologists are now claiming that the earliest dinosaurs to develop feathers did so for courtship purposes and not to soar like giant, sexy eagles. *ruffling tail-feathers* CAW, CAW! "They may have in... / Continue →
-
Damn that makes me sad. By the time you're old enough to make a graph about dinosaurs you can't even spell dinosaurs correctly. It's enough to make a dinophile cry. Which reminds me: my second semester at college I managed to sign up for a senior-level paleontology course de... / Continue →
-
NOTE: Click HERE to see the graphic in all its gaming glory GLORY HALLELUUUUUJAH! Kotaku recently made a really cool informational graphic about the top 100 video games and what drives their characters to do what they do. This is it. We pulled the top 100 highest rated games... / Continue →
