London, May 18 (IANS) Scientists have created a life-sized, anatomically complete version of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. They will dissect the 14-metre long dinosaur in a specially constructed lab in an attempt to fully understand it.
A collaborating team of veterinary surgeons, biologists and palaeontologists hope to use the incredible replica to explore mysteries such as whether the dinosaur was a hunter or a scavenger, how it fed itself with its tiny arms, and whether it had feathers, reported Daily Mail.
“The chance to take palaeontological evidence and transform that into something tangible in the real world, something we can all recognise and appreciate without expert knowledge, is very special,” said Tori Herridge from Britain’s Natural History Museum.
Herridge has previously conducted an autopsy on a woolly mammoth from the Ice Age.
“Not to give too much away, but one of the most interesting things we learnt is that the size of the T-Rex heart was not one percent of the body size that is typical in mammals and birds, it was actually smaller than we might have predicted,” he added.
The experts will be seen dissecting the predator in a two-hour National Geographic channel documentary, slated to be aired in the first week of June.
The team would be seen sawing through the extinct animal’s giant bones and wading through its innards.