T-rex 68 Million Year-Old Turns Being Pregnant

Scientists examine femur - the thigh bone, of a Tyrannosaurus rex or so-called T-Rex 68 million years old and confirm that the creature was pregnant.

It would be a major discovery in the field of paleontology, because researchers can rarely identify the sex of a dinosaur.

The team from North Carolina State University and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences publish their findings in the journal Scientific Reports.

"This analysis allows us to determine the sex of the fossil, and gives us insight into the evolution of modern birds lay eggs," said lead author of the journal, Mary Schweitzer who is also a paleontologist.

Based on research, the fossil belongs to T-rex origin Montana in the Cretaceous Period, have some sort of medullary bone tissue, and is found only in female birds that carry the eggs or newly completed issuing eggs.

It is believed that theropod dinosaurs like T. rex evolved into modern birds. It is quoted by the Washington Post

Schweitzer of North Carolina led a team that believes has found medullary bone in 2005.

In preparing the study on the bone further, Schweitzer discovered what he and other paleontologists believe as blood vessels - the soft tissue preserved for millions of years.

The work remained controversial up to ten years. However, in the last journal, which has been described a study of the femur, at least have confirmed the presence of medullary bone.

"All the evidence we have at the time showed that the tissue is

medullary bone," says Schweitzer.

"But there are a bone disease that can occur in birds, such as osteoporosis, which looks similar to the medullary bone when viewed from the microscope. So for sure, we need to do a chemical analysis of the network."

Medullary bone is not like other bones. The bones contain keratan sulfate, and only for a short time. They lay, we could not find it again.

Researchers initially thought that the chemicals contained in the bones can not survive. But this time, they use different methods to test a sample of the femur to find INTAN Sulfate.

Illustration T-rex who are pregnant (Photo: Mark Hallett / The Washington Post).

Then, they tested ostrich and medullary bone in the same way. After comparing the results, it can be concluded that the T-rex had medullary bone.

With these findings, the researchers can identify the sex of a dinosaur, and it makes them very interested.

Co-author of the journal of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Lindsay Zanno, said, "We not only have a reliable way to distinguish the sex of a dinosaur."

"We hardly know anything about the characteristics associated with the gender of the extinct dinosaurs," said Zanno.

"Being able to identify the dinosaur as a woman, can open up a wide range of possibilities. Now we can show pregnant dinosaur has a chemical fingerprint, we need a concerted effort to find it more," he added.

It is not easy, given that the medullary bone is present only in a short time.