The Nanotyrannus Dinosaur: A Tenth Less Than The Rest

 

An illustration by Anthony Hatchings, taken by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.¹

For years, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, or the "T-Rex," is one of the most legendary and known creatures of the Cretaceous Era. Millions of years ago, this gigantic dinosaur is what's formerly believed to be the king amongst other dinosaurs that came before it's extinction. Paleontologists and natural scientists come together throughout the United States to discuss the dinosaur in the room- what about the Nanotyrannus? The Nanotyrannus, literal meaning, "Small Tyrant," was also another genus that lived co-inside with the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Indeed, both are fierce predators, however, there are fine-line differences and similarities between these two carnivorous dominators.

The expedition site of Dr. David Dunkle's team in the Hell Creek Formation on finding the Nanotyrannus, taken from the Cleveland National History Museum.²

The history of the Nanotyrannus dates back to 1942, first discovered by  Dr. David Dunkle's team of paleontologists on the shy location of the Hell Creek Formation, Montana.² His team discovered a couple of dinosaurs. Two of them were previously unraveled by past paleontologists, but the most significant fossil discovery of them all was a uniquely shaped skull. This outlandishly shaped skull was what sparked the conversation, it was a theropod.²Time and time again did this skull undergo multiple false designations. It came to a halt between the fierce debate of whether it was meant to be a Nanotyrannus, or simply, a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex.

A skull of a Nanotyrannus Lancensis, taken by the Australian Museum.³

This debate went on amongst natural scientists and paleontologists. Some concluded and stopped at the thought of it being a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex. In spite of that, a famous paleontologist, Robert Bakker, upon further analyzation, designated this to be "Nanotyrannus Lancensis."⁴ This mention of the Nanotyrannus being a whole separate genus that associated itself with the Tyrannosaurus had blown away paleontologists. Anatomist James Napoli reinforces the Nanotyrannus Lancensis hypothesis being true, "..for Nanotyrannus to be a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, it would have to defy verberate growth. That is not unlikely, it is approaching impossible."⁵ 

Statistics comparing and contrasting target sizes of the Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus Rex, taken by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.¹  

Diagnostics from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences show that the Nanotyrannus Lancensis is less than a tenth of the Tyrannosaurus Rex's weight and overall size.¹   Despite this massive size difference, there are hypotheses and guesses that the Nanotyrannus was a "leaner, swifter, and more agile hunter," as said from Lindsay Zinno¹ , a close associate with James Napoli. This discovery culminates to one specific fossil. Paleontologists at the Burpee Museum of National History have named this fossil to be "Jane," the "sub-adult Tyrannosaurus Rex."

A picture taken from the Burpee Museum of National History, provided by the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau Land of Management.

Jane is one of the Nanotyrannus fossils that was previously mis-named as a "juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex." Even so, paleontologists have irrefutably denied that this was not the case. In fact, Jane is a Nanotyrannus, most specifically, a Nanotyrannus Lethaeus.⁵ What paleontologists further analyzed about Jane is that a Nanotyrannus's bone development shares a similar growth rate to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which could have caused that widespread confusion amongst paleontologists. That fact brings up the question, and as the Burpee Museum Staff writes it, "what would a fully grown, young, Tyrannosaurus Rex, look like?"⁵ Answers behind that question may not seem achievable at the very moment. Nevertheless, the efforts behind these discoveries through the paleontologists must not be downplayed, for a young Tyrannosaurus Rex may pop up at any moment.

References

¹ News. Nanotyrannus Confirmed: Dueling Dinosaurs Fossil Rewrites the Story of T. rex | Programs and Events Calendar. (n.d.). https://naturalsciences.org/calendar/news/nanotyrannus-confirmed/

² The discovery of Nanotyrannus. Cleveland Museum of Natural History. (n.d.).  https://www.cmnh.org/exhibits/g3-4-313 

³ Murray, A. M. (n.d.). Dinosaurs - nanotyrannus lancensis. The Australian Museum. https://australian.museum/learn/dinosaurs/fact-sheets/nanotyrannus-lancensis

⁴ Jane: Diary of a dinosaur. Burpee Museum of Natural History. (n.d.-a). https://burpee.org/jane-diary-of-a-dinosaur

⁵ What a great day for science!. Burpee Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). https://burpee.org/jane 

Potential Recovery of Dinosaur DNA!

 This article details an account which claims that $125 million-year-old DNA has been recovered from a dinosaur called Caudipteryx. Scientists claim that the fragments of chromatin and nuclei within the fossil could contain preserved DNA, which could then be extracted and studied. However, mass skepticism surrounds this idea. Currently, the oldest sequenced DNA belongs to a million year old woolly mammoth, and, given how long ago dinosaurs went extinct, the idea of sequencing multi-millions of years old DNA is nearly unheard of… This is due to DNA's fragility. The dinosaur DNA was allegedly extracted from fossilized femur cartilage, found in China. This fossil was exceptionally preserved, as the site it was found at is known for fossilization via fine volcanic ash- prime preservation conditions. However, the main concern surrounding this is the idea that the genetic material being found could actually be from microbes on the fossils, not the dinosaurs themselves. This is a problem that researchers commonly run into, not only with dinosaurs, but other ancient organisms as well.

Personally, I think that the concept of being able to study ancient DNA, and then further learn from it in the present day, is fantastical. However the obvious problems of being unable to differentiate between modern organisms and fossil DNA is a major setback. Additionally, due to DNA's tendency to break down over time, unfortunately, I am also a skeptic in regards to whether or not DNA was actually recovered from this dinosaur. However, if somehow we were able to develop a way to differentiate modern versus ancient DNA, I think it would be amazing to compare ancient DNA to modern DNA, and see just how similar dinosaur DNA is to that of modern organisms. 

Feathers of Anchiornis: Origin of flight

Researchers from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, North Carolina State University, and the University of South Carolina analyzed Anchiornis—small, feathered dinosaur—to compare their molecular biology with earlier birds and modern birds. Birds today contain a beta-keratin that can also be found in skin, claws, and beaks of reptiles and birds. What differs from the other beta-keratin present in other animals is the flexibility the feathers have. During the evolution of feathers, for some reason one of the beta-keratin had deleted itself which then resulted to the protein becoming smaller. This led to the requirement of flight. In this research, it was founded that the Anchiornis feathers contained both beta-keratin and alpha-keratin proteins. This is a surprising feat since in birds today there is only small percentage in which the alpha-keratin is found.

Looking at different data from fossils, I think it is interesting to see how we could use fossil data to place approximate dates on genetic events that happened in many organisms that led to the evolution in today’s time. In this research, it gave us an approximation on where, when, and even on what animal the transition of dinosaurs and birds came to be.

Prehistoric Evolution of Birds

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/health/the-link-between-dinosaurs-and-birds.html

http://www.nhm.org/site/research-collections/dinosaur-institute/dinosaurs/birds-late-evolution-dinosaurs

Archaeopteryx; a very early prehistoric bird, dating back 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period, it is one of the oldest-known birds. Based on bone structure it looked to be part bird and part dinosaur. Unlike modern-day birds, it had teeth, three claws on each wing, a flat sternum, belly ribs, and a long, bony tail. However, like modern-day birds, it had feathers, a lightly-built body with hollow bones, a wishbone and reduced fingers. This animal may have been able to fly but if so not very far and not very well. Scientists took a look at dinosaur brains to trace this hyperinflation and they found that Archaeopteryx’s brain fell in between that of distantly related theropods, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, and living birds. 

I find this extremely interesting because birds may not be the smartest of all creatures but there are a variety of species of birds, each with it's own story. No matter where you go in the world you will always come across some type of bird, they fill the Earth and are able to live in any environment.