Website powered by

Tyrant Care

2017 was such a good year for the tyrannosaurid research. We had a new species described, Daspletosaurus horneri, and much of its head soft tissue was inferred (from scales to armored skin to cornified sheaths), along with the proposal for the presence of integumentary sensory organs ("ISOs").

Talking about the ISOs, it is hard to expect for terrestrial theropods the same function we see in crocodilians - detect prey underwater. So, the authors of the research suggested uses for other behaviors like, for example, courtship with snout contact or precise and careful checking of the nest and eggs. The illustration shows an adult verifying the nest's temperature by touching its snout, using the ISOs.