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Those protruding T-Rex teeth? They were covered by lips: study

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Visitors look at the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex named Trinity, at the Tonhalle Zurich concert hall, in Zurich, Switzerland, 29 March 2023. EPA-EFE/MICHAEL BUHOLZER" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/03/30/20230330-dino.jpg"/><figcaption>Visitors look at the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex named Trinity, at the Tonhalle Zurich concert hall, in Zurich, Switzerland, 29 March 2023. <em>EPA-EFE/MICHAEL BUHOLZER</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>WASHINGTON - Sorry, &quot;Jurassic Park&quot; and toymakers everywhere.</p><p>Tyrannosaurus rex probably did not have those exposed jagged teeth.</p><p>The fearsome choppers of arguably the most celebrated of dinosaurs were likely covered by lips when the mouth was closed.</p><p>It&#x27;s not an open and shut case, but that&#x27;s the conclusion of a team of international researchers whose findings are published Thursday in the journal Science.</p><p>&quot;Animals like T-Rex, theropod dinosaurs, most likely had some sort of lips, like a soft tissue covering on their mouth to cover their teeth,&quot; said one of the authors of the study, Thomas Cullen, an assistant professor of paleobiology at Auburn University.</p><p>&quot;This is different than what a lot of prior assumptions had been -- which was that they looked more like crocodiles, having the teeth exposed when the mouths were closed and having no lips.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/03/12/23/t-rex-skeleton-to-go-under-hammer-in-switzerland">T-Rex skeleton to go under hammer in Switzerland</a></li></ul><p>To reach their conclusion, Cullen and the other researchers studied a range of different theropods from various museums and followed several lines of inquiry.</p><p>They looked at wear patterns, for example, on the enamel of dinosaur teeth and crocodilians, the most closely related animals to theropods alive today.</p><p>&quot;We did that because enamel, as some people have been told by their dentists, has to stay healthy and stay hydrated in order to remain healthy,&quot; Cullen said. &quot;If it&#x27;s exposed to air for too long it gets brittle, is more likely to crack or get diseased.&quot;</p><p>Cullen said the enamel on the outer sides of the teeth of living crocodilians wears down faster than that on the insides because they don&#x27;t have lips.</p><p>&quot;When we looked at enamel thickness on the inside and outside of the teeth in large Tyrannosaurs, they don&#x27;t show that pattern like a crocodile,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;They show a pattern more like an animal that has lips,&quot; he said. &quot;Their enamel thickness is the same on the outer side and on the inner side.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/01/12/23/four-dinosaur-species-found-in-chilean-valley-for-first-time-study">Four dinosaur species found in Chilean valley for first time: study</a></li></ul><div><strong>TEETH TOO BIG FOR THE MOUTH?</strong></div><p>The researchers also studied whether T-Rex&#x27;s teeth may have simply been too big to fit in the dinosaur&#x27;s mouth, comparing them to a number of present-day lizards that have lips.</p><p>&quot;Some of the monitor lizards today have absolutely massive teeth,&quot; Cullen said. &quot;It looks almost unbelievable that those teeth could be fully covered in lips and yet they are.</p><p>&quot;And we found that that sort of relationship, that scaling relationship, is almost identical in theropod dinosaurs.&quot;</p><p>As for how the findings will affect popular depictions of theropods, Cullen said the blockbuster &quot;Jurassic Park&quot; franchise &quot;did a great job at the beginning of trying to stick with what was known at the time.&quot;</p><p>&quot;But it&#x27;s gone pretty off the rails since then in terms of any attempt to stick to accurate depictions of dinosaurs,&quot; he added.</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gm_s1QiHA_s?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>