Raptorex: Shaking our Foundations

Knowing who and what come before humans did, and knowing who and what our ancestors roamed the earth with really interested me and so when I heard about this new discovery on NPR I realized just how little we know about the past, and that our search for answers to the past may never be complete.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112925703

NPR had a segment a few weeks ago; it got my attention because they were talking about a new species that was discovered. The discovery was of fossils of a dinosaur, the segment was entitled “Even T rex Started Small.” First a little background about the well known T-rex, The body type of a Tyrannosaurs rex is very unique, with a very large head, large body, and very small arms in proportion to it’s body. The T-Rex has been made into the king and the most vicious killer in the Cretaceous period, 68-65 million year ago, Rex, translating into King.” The T-rex weighed an average of 6.8 metric tons and stood approximately 13 meters.

Fossils of the Raptorex kriegsteni, named after the individual who purchased the fossils after the discovery, were found in China that dates back to 125 million years ago, long before the T-rex. The fossils resemble an almost exact miniature version of the body shape of the T-rex, yet it measures at 1/90^th- 1/100^th the size of the T-rex, standing at 9 feet tall and weighing the size of an average human. Judging by the body shape of the Raptorex it is now said to be the blueprint of a predator. It was originally thought that the fossil remains were those of a baby T-rex, but further examination revealed that the growth of the bones and fusion of the growth plates show that it was at least 5 years old at the time of death. The dating of the fossils also revealed that the Raptorex was much older then the T-rex, approximately 60-35 million years older, suggesting that the Raptorex may have evolved over millions of years into the T-rex.

This discovery has given paleontologists a new insight into the creatures that roamed the land before humans, as well as an idea of what it meant to be a predator in that era. The most interesting part of this discovery is that a fossil like this, or suggesting that a dinosaur of this type existed, has never before been discovered. I feel that this discovery, which was so unexpected and changed what we thought we had known about the period, has made me realize just how little we know about the past, and what we could still discover. I also feel however that the chances of paleontologists finding more fossils that change what we thought we knew about the past are slim, in part because of the uniqueness of the fossils, and because of the urbanization and desertification taking place all over the world, covering the stomping ground of our ancient ancestors and predators.