T. Rex was a 'lean, mean machine'

London, Mar 1 (ANI): The ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex was a lean, mean hunter, new research has suggested.

Using an advanced laser scanning technique to produce the most accurate picture yet of the formidable predator, palaeobiologists found that a typical adult T. Rex was probably 85 stone (550kg) lighter than previously thought.

Manchester University scientists found a medium-sized T Rex, which lived around 65 million years ago, would have weighed 5.9 tons (5,350kg) with a relatively slender body, reports The Telegraph.

Previous estimates have placed it closer to 6.5 tons (5,900kg), while artists' impressions have made it appear fatter.

The researchers also found that T. Rex probably had a far bigger head - up to a third bigger with flesh on - than was previously thought.

Professor Phil Manning, one of the researchers leading the study, said the findings also suggested that T. Rex was far faster and more agile than previously estimated.

"The top speed that T. Rex was capable of was probably much greater than we had previously thought," he said.

"We previously estimated it at eight metres per second (17.8mph) but this was very conservative. For the first time we are treating dinosaurs like living animals rather than trying to impose what we know about animals that are currently living on to them. That simply doesn't work, as when animals get bigger they develop specific adaptations.

"That is why it is so critical to understand the mass and volume of dinosaurs, as we can then start to look at the engineering properties of their bones and whether they were capable of withstanding the forces they would have been put through when running or walking," he added. (ANI)