The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs

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What happened when

killer dinosaurs waged war?

Whose blood was spilt?

And who reigned supreme?

To answer these questions,

a team of skilled engineers

will be building bio-mechancial

replicas of dinosaur weaponry.

And then they'll test them.

For the first time in 65 million years,

the true power of these

dangerous dinosaurs will be unleashed.

The terrifying predator Tyrannosaurus rex

squares up to the monstrous Triceratops...

This is a scene that's been played out

many times in the movies.

But did it every really happen?

And if these two dinosaurs did fight -

who would have been victorious?

These are questions

that have been puzzling scientists

ever since the dinosaurs

were first discovered.

And now they're using a completely new method

of research to help them find the answers:

biomechanical replicas of T rex and Triceratops.

But however futuristic the research techniques,

all investigations begin

with the ancient fossil bones....

The first skeleton of T rex

was found just a hundred years ago.

Since then there have been

about 24 more unearthed...

Not one of them is 100% complete.

But scientists can tell a surprising amount

from the fossil bones. Like size for instance.

T rex was unquestionably huge -

forty foot long from head

When scientists look

really closely at the skeleton,

they can see where the muscles

and tendons attached -

and so flesh out T rex.

It's even possible to determine

the texture of the skin,

by studying impressions left in ancient rocks.

So, putting together the most accurate evidence,

taken from the very latest research -

meet Tyrannosaurus rex...

It seems certain that this

iconic dinosaur was huge, and fearsome.

But was he really capable of overpowering

the other big guy on the block?

Triceratops:
, three horned face,

and most famous of the horned dinosaurs.

At eight tons, this would have been

some heavyweight for T rex to take on.

There are only three fossil skeletons

of Triceratops for scientists

to work on and none of these are complete.

But it's obvious from its size

and enormous skull

that this dinosaur would have made

a fearsome opponent.

So Triceratops versus T. Rex.

They both lived in North America

at the same time

but what exactly would have happened

when they met?

Until very recently,

there was absolutely no scientific proof

that they had anything to do

with each other at all.

But then Greg Erickson took a close

look at a fragment of a pelvis

from a 65 million year old Triceratops.

On the pelvis he's found some

intriguing wound marks...

For instance, If you look here

there are some gouges along the top.

There's a really deep puncture

mark right here.

In fact if one looks all over this specimen

you'll find over 80 of these punctures

and cut marks.

These are bite marks.

Some other beast had been taking chunks

out of this Triceratops. So who was the culprit?

We have a real whodunit mystery.

Using a common forensic technique,

Greg pushes some dental putty into one of the deep

wound marks to help identify the mystery diner.

Aha, there we go,

we have a very nice cast here of the tooth.

This is a shape that is very familiar to me.

This is reminiscent of a therapod dinosaur tooth

and a very nice match for

this animal Tyrannosaurs Rex.

I think this is pretty good smoking gun evidence

that T. Rex fed on this triceratops

65 Million years ago.

It's often presumed that T rex ate Triceratops,

but this is the first scientific evidence.

Though it doesn't prove

that T rex killed Triceratops.

The supposedly invincible carnivore might

have found this dead animal lying in its path.

Was the tyrant king really capable

of slaying a huge Triceratops?

Greg Erikson believes that T rex's teeth

were certainly up to the job.

The teeth of an animal can reveal a great deal

about what it was doing for a living

and it's very clear that T rex was 15,000 pounds

of gut crunching terror.

T rex possessed some of the most robust teeth,

some of the largest teeth of any dinosaur.

They're recurved, there was a serrated steak

knife-like edge on the back and the front.

If this animal was a predator, it was probably

the most lethal predator that ever lived.

So how much damage could T rex

do to a live Triceratops?

Dave Payne and John Pennicott

are skilled engineers

who usually make special effects for movies:

Shark Movies, Bond movies and many more.

This time they're going to help the scientists

to investigate the power of T rex's jaws,

by building a life-size,

fully working model of a T rex head.

It will be based on Stan,

one of only three near complete fossil skulls.

The replica will be made by hand, faithfully

following the proportions of the T rex fossil.

The biomechanic has to be incredibly strong

because the fossil evidence shows that,

when T rex was feeding,

it could bite through bone.

So they decided to make the head from pure steel.

The teeth have to be cast individually at

a local foundry and are also made from steel.

But the technicians need to know how much force

to use to power the biomechanic's jaws.

Scientists can deduce from the skeleton

that T rex had huge jaw muscles.

Before the team can test whether T rex was

tough enough to take on a living Triceratops

they need to know exactly

how powerful these muscles were.

Alligators and crocodiles have the most

powerful bites of any living animal.

They're also among T rex, s

closest living relatives.

Paleontologist, Greg Erikson calculates that, if

he can measure the force of an alligator's bite,

that measurement could be scaled up

to get the force of a T rex bite.

So, Greg hitches a ride

with the Florida Alligator Control

who are hoping to catch a rogue, gator

that has been making a meal of the local dogs.

Crikey, she's a fine one!

Greg's caught a whopping 12ft animal,

weighing around 450 lbs -

that's the same weight as 3 men.

This wild rogue alligator is the perfect subject

for Greg's bite test.

All he has to do is insert the biteometer

where it counts.

Actuality- bite test, 2,209 bite... 1 Ton.

So now Greg can scale up

that one ton measurement to work out

how strong the bite of a T rex would be.

We're close to release, everyone ready?

After 3 months of painstaking engineering

and careful scientific calculations,

the bio-mechanical T rex head is ready to test.

Based on his work with alligators,

Greg has calculated that T rex would have

had a bite force of at least 4 tons.

The bone would've had to been so strong that

the only way to replicate it is by using steel.

And the enormous muscle power

is provided by a hydraulic piston.

It's time to test true strength of the jaws....

This is just part of a cow's leg bone.

T rex had the strongest bite

of any animal ever known.

Eight times more powerful than a lion.

Four tons of brute force

completely pulverises the bone.

This dinosaur could certainly

have delivered a killer bite.

The bio-mechanical bite test doesn't prove

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