New research announced Monday found that Tyrannosaurus dinosaurs may not have been predators for as long, but more like social carnivores like wolves.
Paleontologists developed the theory while studying a mass tyrannosaurus site found seven years ago at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, one of two monuments the Biden government is considering restoring to its full size. after former President Donald Trump shrank them.
Using geochemical analysis of bones and rock, a team of researchers from the University of Arkansas determined that the dinosaurs died and were buried in the same place and that it was not the result of fossils that washed up from multiple areas.
Kristi Curry Rogers, a biology professor at Macalester College, said this research was a ‘good start’, but more evidence would be needed before it was determined that the tyrannosaurs lived in a social group.
“It’s a little harder to be so sure that these data mean that these tyrannosaurs lived together in the good times,” Rogers said. “It is possible that these animals lived in the same environment as each other without traveling together in a social group, and only came together around the shrinking resources as the times became more difficult.”
In 2014, the paleontologist of the Bureau of Land Management, Alan Titus, discovered the site, which later got the Rainbows and Unicorns quarry because of the large variety of fossils that were in it. Excavations have been going on since the discovery of the site due to the size of the area and the amount of bones.
“I consider it a one-time discovery for myself,” Titus told reporters during a virtual news conference. “I probably would not find another site so exciting and scientifically important during my career.”
The new Utah site is the third mass tyrannosaurus burial site discovered in North America and provides even more evidence that tyrannosaurs may have lived in groups, Titus said.
The social tyrannosaurs began more than twenty years ago when more than a dozen tyrannosaurs were found at a site in Alberta, Canada. Another mass death in Montana has again raised the possibility of social tyrannosaurs. Many scientists question the theory, arguing that dinosaurs do not have the brain power to practice sophisticated social interaction, Titus said.
“Taking the next step in understanding behavior and how animals behave requires amazing evidence,” Joseph Sertich, curator of dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, told the news conference. “I think this site, the spectacular collection of tyrannosaurs, but also the other evidence … pushes us to the point where we can provide evidence of behavior.”
In addition to the tyrannosaurs, researchers also found seven species of turtles, several species of fish and rays, two other species of dinosaurs and an almost complete skeleton of a juvenile Deinosuchus alligator. These other animals do not seem to have died together.
Paleontology groups were among those who forced the federal government to restore the Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante to their original size to protect the region’s rich paleontological and archaeological record.
Home Secretary Deb Haaland visited southern Utah earlier this month when she was prepared to make recommendations on whether to reverse Trump’s decision to shrink the monuments. Titus said he showed Haaland some of the fossils during his visit to his lab and said she appreciated seeing the material.
“The (Bureau of Land Management) protects these fossils as national treasures,” Titus said. “It’s part of the story of how North America came to be and how we eventually became.”