Researcher concludes T. rex lived a wretched life

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Even the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex can't escape the merciless progress of scientific knowledge. The truth is cruel: T. rex was probably T. wrecks.

"If we did Jurassic Park 4," says Wyoming paleontologist Robert Bakker, "T. rex would be portrayed in a fear-, angst-ridden role -- sort of a large Woody Allen character."

The fearsome thunder-lizards lived wretched lives, he said. "They were beat up, limping, had oozing sores, were dripping pus and disease-ridden, and had to worry about their children starving and other T. rexs coming in and kicking them out."

Bakker, of the Wyoming Dinosaur Society, knows this because of research by Elizabeth Rega, a physical anthropologist at Western University in Pomona, Calif.

Rega has studied ancient diseases in people and began applying her knowledge to dinosaurs a few years ago. She presented her theory to more than 350 peers at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology at Montana State University.

Rega and University of Iowa paleontologist Chris Brochu examined three T. rexs, including Sue, one of the most complete specimens in the world. Sue's lower leg bone had an infection that healed but probably leaked pus at times.

"I don't know if this would have debilitated the animal, but it probably would have been really smelly in life," Rega said.

Sue also had several broken ribs, and several bones in her spine and tail had stiffened and begun to fuse. But strangely enough, the marks on her bones indicate she was healthy.

"Most diseases kill without leaving a mark on the bones," she said. "They're healthy because they're living with it."

Rega's research indicates that T. rex healed more like a mammal than a reptile. That bolsters paleontologists who theorize some dinosaurs were warm-blooded.