Tyrannosaurus Rex faced teenage growth spurt
Evidence shows T. Rex's
'mammal-like rapid
growth' was not followed
by 'mammal-like longevity'
MALCOLM RITTER
AP SCIENCE WRITER
NEW YORK — Think your teenager
is growing fast? A new study says
Tyrannosaurus Rex launched into an
explosive growth spurt in its teen
years, packing on an average of near
ly 5 pounds a day.
That spurt, from ages 14 to 18, let
T. Rex pick up most of its eventual
adult weight of around 6 tons, the re
search says. It stopped growing
around age 20 and apparently died by
age 30, researchers estimated.
T. Rex was "the James Dean of
dinosaurs — it lived fast and died
young," said Gregory Erickson of
Florida State University, one of the sci
entists presenting a study of the rep
tile's growth pattern in Thursday's is
sue of the journal Nature.
In contrast, he said, while an African
elephant's growth reaches a plateau at
around the same age and weight, that
animal tends to live past age 50.
Scientists have long wondered how
the huge dinosaurs got so big. Did
they grow slowly for a long time, or
very quickly for a shorter period? Or
was it a combination? The question
must be studied separately for various
kinds of dinosaurs, experts said.
T. Rex was one of the largest meat
eaters ever to walk the land when it
died out some 65 million years ago.
At an elephant-like 6 tons, it stretched
about 40 feet to 45 feet long and
measured about 13 feet tall at the hip.
The adult skull alone was 5 feet long,
with teeth up to a foot long.
*T. Rex is one of the dinosaurs that
could eat a human being in probably
two bites," said Thomas Holtz Jr. of
the University of Maryland. "One bite
would take off the top, and the next
bite would take off the hips and legs."
Holtz, who didn't participate in the
new study, called it important and
said it could help answer other ques
tions about T. Rex. For example, he
said, it looks like the creature got so
big after age 12 that it might not have
been able to run as fast as before. So
maybe it stopped running after prey
and turned more to either scavenging
or ambushing its meals, he said.
The research is consistent with the
hypothesis that younger T. Rexes of
ten separated a victim from its herd
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so 'the big bruiser parent could take
it down,' Holtz said.
It's not surprising that T. Rex
showed an explosive growth period in
adolescence, because that pattern had
been detected in other kinds of di
nosaurs, Holtz said. But the estimated
lifetime of a T. Rex is surprisingly
brief, because it shows the mammal
like rapid growth wasn't followed by
a mammal-like longevity, he said.
Erickson agreed that the growth
pattern work opens the door to study
ing many other things about T. Rexes,
although he said it doesn't settle the
old question of whether it was prima
rily a predator or a scavenger.
Erickson and colleagues established
the growth pattern by analyzing more
than 60 bones from 20 specimens of
T. Rex and three of its smaller evolu
tionary cousins. They deduced the
animals' ages at death— which ranged
from 2 to 28 years— by studying
growth lines, somewhat like counting
the rings in a tree trunk. They estimat
ed the animals' weights from the cir
cumference of the thigh bone.
One specimen in the study was Sue,
the T. Tex skeleton on display at
Chicago's Field Museum. Erickson
said the bones showed Sue stopped
growing around 18 to 20 years of age
and lived to about age 28. The skele
ton, which is the largest known forT.
Rex, showed much evidence of dis
ease and broken bones, he said.
"This animal was a train wreck at
the time it died," Erickson said. "I
can't imagine these animals could live
much longer."
Malcolm Ritter is a science uniter for
the Associated Press.
Republican campaign
rewards volunteers
Tickets to Bush's Portland
event on Friday will be given
to Bush-Cheney volunteers
SARAH LINN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORTLAND — When John Kerry
rolls into Portland on Friday, anyone
who wants to hear the Democratic
presidential hopeful can head to
Waterfront Park.
But those hoping to listen to Pres
ident Bush on the same day in Port
land will probably have to volunteer
to work phone banks for the Repub
lican campaign.
Dawn Phillips, spokeswoman for
the Oregon Republican Party, said
providing access to the Bush appear
ance is a way to reward "the volun
teers who have been working so
hard this summer."
Tim Trickey, political director at
the Multnomah County Republican
Party office in Portland, said party
offices have received hundreds of
calls from people hoping to attend
Friday's "town hall"-style meeting
with the president.
"Every potential Republican sup
porter would most likely want to do
some work, too," Trickey said.
"We're just trying to build our volun
teer base."
Trickey said the Bush-Cheney
campaign will decide who attends
the event in addition to the volun
teers.
Meanwhile, Kerry campaign offi
cials say Friday's rally at Waterfront
Park is open to the public.
Lisa Sohn, Oregon spokeswoman
for the Kerry-Edwards campaign,
said the rally marks the culmination
of Kerry's two-week "Believe in
America" tour across the country.
"Of course we want to make the
finale a big event that everyone
could come to," she said.
Sarah Linn is a writer
for the Associated Press.
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