Oxygen levels were 50% more, so there was a lot of fat but muscular plant eaters to eat.
If it wasn't for the Cancun Comet... We'd be all rooting for the Gorn to kick that Space Ape Kirk's Ass.
Posted on 04/15/2021 3:46:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A total of 2.5 billion Tyrannosaurus rex probably existed during the lifespan of the species, researchers have calculated – suggesting that very few survived as fossils.
Charles Marshall at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues used body mass and population density to estimate how many T. rex once lived.
Larger animals tend to have a larger individual range, because they need more food to support their body mass than smaller animals, meaning body mass is inversely correlated with population density – a rule known as Damuth’s law.
Previous analysis of T. rex fossils shows that the average body mass of an adult was about 5200 kilograms. The team also used climate models and the locations of T. rex remains to estimate that the total geographic range of the species was about 2.3 million square kilometres across North America.
Using these figures and data from living species, the team estimated that there was around one T. rex for every 100 square kilometres in North America. “This would mean there was about 20,000 adult T. rex at any given time,” says Marshall.
Previous research shows T. rex lived into its late 20s and, using this figure, the team estimates that 2.5 billion T. rex spanning 127,000 generations graced our planet between 69 and 66 million years ago, the lifespan of the species.
Estimates of population size for long-extinct animals are rare because there are so few fossils. This estimate for adult T. rex suggests a very low fossil incidence rate – it would mean only one in 80 million T. rex survived as fossilised remains.
“This question has been in my head for years,” says Marshall. “I would ask the question every time I held a fossil in my hand.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Spread out over 127,000 generations.
Actually, it would appear that they used real math in this estimate.
You know, that evil racist math.
Kind of a shock
CO2 was estimated to be 15% higher than now and the planet survived.
Bang a Gong (Get it On)
There had to be more than conserving all the Dino oil we have!
Considering.
Oxygen levels were 50% more, so there was a lot of fat but muscular plant eaters to eat.
If it wasn't for the Cancun Comet... We'd be all rooting for the Gorn to kick that Space Ape Kirk's Ass.
About 1 in 80 million T-Rex’s became fossilized. So something must have been eating them before the meteor turned dinosaurs into fossils. Maybe a dinosaur with a better jab and a longer arm reach. I say dig for poop with T-Rex DNA in it. I wish I was young enough to apply for a grant.
“Vote?!? You don’t ‘vote’ for the King of Tyrants!”
2.5 BILLION?
They should have wiped-out all other dinos over that time span.
Sounds fishy to me.
...But still funny! Well done!
The total was over millions of years, so not very crowded.
Is is for a species.
Unless the author meant genus.
if they had worn their masks, they’d still be alive.
Over the years I’ve read a bit of Geology.
This planets climate has been all over the place prior to the Industrial Age.
Trees at the South Pole, river beds in the Sahara, dried up Mediterranean Sea, rocks from the North Pole found at the equator (almost total ice age), land bridges from Europe to U.K, Asia to Japan, Eurasia to N. America.
Man made global warming. Hooey.
My grandson has almost that many in the family room.
If it wasn’t for the Cancun Comet.
—
Was one of at least 3 big rocks to hit around that time.
Yeah, they are found in sediment beds. So we know thier range.
But not a single precursor or successor fossil.
Whenever I think of T Rex’s, I get sedimental.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.