A total of 1.7 billion T-rex lived on Earth, and not 2.5 billion as previously assumed: this is indicated by a new and more accurate estimate elaborated on the basis of new data regarding the growth and reproduction of these famous dinosaurs. The study results are published in the journal Palaeontology by ecologist Eva M. Griebeler of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.
The first ‘census’ of tyrannosaurs, published in Science in 2021 by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, had estimated that T-rex reached sexual maturity at 15 years of age, that each generation lived about 19 years, that adult specimens weighed about 5.2 tons and that their average density was about one individual per 100 square kilometres, over a total area of 2.3 million square kilometres. By calculating 127,000 generations, the researchers deduced that 2.5 billion tyrannosaurs existed over a span of 2.5 million years.
This model, according to Griebeler, was based on data that “strongly contradict our current understanding of the biology of T-rex and other theropods. The values also disagree with those of currently living large reptiles, birds and mammals.”
The expert’s new calculations scaled down the T-rex survival rate, total number of generations and spawning activity. The data is based on detailed studies of fossils and comparisons with modern species that are distantly related to dinosaurs. Griebeler tested his model on 23 existing species including reptiles, birds and mammals, demonstrating that it allows to predict the size of the different populations with greater accuracy than the previous model, therefore it could lead to more precise estimates also for the population of T- rex.
According to Griebeler, the model could also be used to estimate populations of other extinct species.
Source: Ansa
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