We mostly know the Tyrannosaurus Rex as the king of the dinosaurs, a giant meat-eater movie star who crushes fences and eats lawyers. But it turns out that the T. Rex may have had some evolutionary advantages in the lovemaking department that helped it.
No, we’re not talking about its scaly tallywhacker, although depending on who you ask that thing was roughly the length of a Buick. No, instead paleontologists have discovered a relative of T. Rex, Daspletosaurus horneri, and have found, studying the snout, that it might have been an exceptionally sensitive “third hand,” much like the sensory organs found in crocodiles. That allowed them to find better nesting places, better explore their surroundings, handle their eggs and young with more sensitivity, and — most importantly, for our purposes — do hot dino foreplay by rubbing snouts.
Admittedly, while dino-banging is completely hilarious to imagine, this is a pretty big deal. Being good in bed is a vital reproductive tactic that allows species to survive and thrive: After all, if species enjoy makin’ babies, they’re going to do it more. So this might, in some small way, help explain why the Tyrannosaur was at the top of the food chain. Well, that and the Buick-sized wang. That probably helped.
(via The Guardian
