Growing giant.Ever return from summer vacation Summer vacation (also called summer holidays or summer break) is a vacation in the summertime between school years in which students are off for 3 months, depending on the country and district. to find a classmate has suddenly grown much taller? Like humans, the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Tyrannosaurus (tīrăn'ōsôr`əs, tĭr–) [Gr.,=tyrant lizard], member of a family, Tyrannosauridae, of bipedal carnivorous saurischian dinosaurs characterized by having strong hind limbs, a muscular tail, and short rex--nicknamed T. rex--experienced a teenage growth spurt growth spurt Pediatrics A period of rapid growth in middle adolescence; ♀ ↑ ±8 cm/yr ±age 12; ♂ ↑ ±10 cm/yr ± age 14; GS is orderly, affecting acral parts–ie, hands and feet grow before proximal regions, . Biologist Gregory Erickson of Florida State University Florida State University, at Tallahassee; coeducational; chartered 1851, opened 1857. Present name was adopted in 1947. Special research facilities include those in nuclear science and oceanography. studied growth rings inside T. rex bones. "They are like tree rings," he says. "A new ring developed each year of the dinosaur's life." Since bones widened as the dinosaur grew, Erickson measured the ring's circumference (outer boundary) to estimate the T. rex's size at each age. His findings: Between ages 14 and 18, the average T. rex shot up in size. At the peak of this growth spurt, it put on more than 2 kilograms (4.5 pounds) a day. "It's unclear why the T. rex shot up in size," says Erickson. "But being gigantic sure was advantageous." When the giant roamed Earth, few animals dared to cross its path. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion