Research Reveals A Surprising Dinosaur Had Very Kissable Lips
Scientists have discovered that T-Rexs possibly had big dinosaur lips to cover their terrifying teeth.
New biting evidence now suggests that the dino world’s most infamous dinosaur had large, luscious lips. That’s right, folks, according to a new study on Science.org, the T-Rex didn’t look anything like the toothy beast that Hollywood would have you believe from movies like Jurassic Park and The Land Before Time, but rather the ferocious creature had a pair of very kissable lips instead.
First feathers, now dinosaur lips? It seems like paleontologists are doing whatever they can to ruin the terrifying depiction of dinosaurs we all came to know and love as kids. Maybe all of these new dinosaur discoveries don’t hold up to the nostalgic view of dinosaurs we got to know and love as children, but they do give us a more accurate visual of what dinosaurs really did look like 66 million years ago.
Originally, scientists believed that the T-Rex had an exposed set of chompers poised and ready to munch on whatever poor creature was about to be this king of the Jurassic Jungle’s meal of the day. The ferocious T-Rex’s jaw was meant to look similar to a crocodile’s, with an overbite that left the sharp upper fangs exposed over the dinosaur’s lower lips. Now, scientists say that evidence suggests the T-Rex’s upper chompers were also covered by a set of luscious lips, making the dino look less like a crocodile and more like a Komodo dragon.
The argument is that teeth need saliva to stay healthy, and having a set of dinosaur lips would keep the T-Rex’s gnashers moist and in good shape. Looking at the teeth of crocodiles, who do not have lips, the enamel is significantly more worn down compared to the dinosaur king’s. Additionally, even though the T-Rex was a massive theropod with a humongous skull, the creature’s teeth were relatively the same size as lizards (when put to scale), which means that these sharp fangs could have easily been hidden under a set of dinosaur lips.
However, while some solid evidence exists that the T-Rex’s mouth might have featured the most kissable of all the dinosaur lips, not all paleontologists are convinced this carnivorous therapod actually had lips at all, despite the new evidence. Thomas Carr, a paleontologist and T-Rex expert at Carthage College, says that the enamel isn’t as important to a Tyrannosaur as dentin is. Dentin is a substance that forms an interior layer of teeth, it’s not exposed to the elements and therefore doesn’t need lips to keep it safe.
“That’s the tissue that I think is arguably structurally more important to a Tyrannosaur because if the dentin shatters, then they’ll be eating bananas.”
Thomas Carr
So it seems as though there is a bit of a disagreement among paleontologists on which dinosaur has the most kissable lips. While some are insisting that it was the T-Rex with his (probably) newly discovered smackers, we’d like to stick with Carr and the other paleontologists who denounce the new theory. To us, the T-Rex will always remain the featherless, lipless, terrifying bipedal lizard that scared our pants off when we watched Jurassic Park as kids.
