T. rex teeth indicate it ran as warm as an elephant
摘要
研究人员通过分析霸王龙牙齿中的同位素，测算出其体温约为36摄氏度，与现代大象相近。这一发现为长期争论的恐龙生理机制问题提供了新证据。此前，霸王龙曾被视作行动迟缓的爬行动物，后经研究被重新认识为活跃的鸟类近亲，但其是否依靠自身产热维持活动一直未有定论。该研究利用牙齿作为温度计，为霸王龙可能属于内温动物提供了直接依据。
For most of the last century, T. rex was pictured as a sluggish, tail-dragging reptile that had to warm up in the sun before it could go anywhere. Then, further research changed that view, replacing it with the active, bird-like animal shown in the movie Jurassic Park. But whether T. rex used warm blood to power that activity remained a question. Now we might have gotten closer to an answer.
A team of researchers led by Randon J. Flores and Robert A. Eagle, geochemists at the University of California, Los Angeles, has measured the T. rex body temperature by analyzing its teeth. This dental thermometer read about 36° Celsius—roughly the body temperature of a modern elephant.
Dental thermometry
Paleontologists have long argued about dinosaur physiology based on indirect evidence like bone microstructure, growth rates, and where fossils turn up on the map. Some studies suggested many dinosaurs were endotherms, generating their own body heat like birds and mammals. Others argued that each lineage may have had its own thermal strategy.
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