ScienceDaily: Geologists Find First Clue To Tyrannosaurus Rex Gender In Bone Tissue

ScienceDaily: Geologists Find First Clue To Tyrannosaurus Rex Gender In Bone Tissue

Tissue within T. rex bone led to a determination of the dinosaur's gender. (Credit: North Carolina State University)

Paleontologists at North Carolina State University have determined that a 68 million year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil from Montana is that of a young female, and that she was producing eggs when she died.

The proof, they say, is in the bones.

In a case of a literal “lucky break,” the scientists discovered unusual bone tissue lining the hollow cavity of the T. rex’s broken leg bone. In a paper published in the June 3 issue of the journal Science, Dr. Mary Schweitzer, assistant professor of paleontology with a joint appointment at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, and her technician, Jennifer Wittmeyer, along with colleagues at Montana State University, share their findings and say that the presence of this particular tissue provides evidence of the dinosaur’s gender and a connection between the extinct giants and living birds, specifically ostriches and emus.