Re: Pouches

["Martin Barnett" <martin.barnett3@virgin.net>]

Dan Bensen wrote:

> >>Now according to the article in last month's Scientific American, it
> said that T-Rex's
> biting strength way surpassed that of a lion or a wolf but was not much
> larger than a crocodile's.  Given that T-rex had a considerably larger
> mouth than most (all?) crocodiles, would it need such enormous
> pouches?<<
> Wait a minute, what about those tooth indentations on the leg of a
> triceratops?  Didn't they measure the stresses it would take to do that
> as being over a thousand p/in2?  That was in a Discover article, but I
> don't remember when.

The estimated biting strength for one side of a Tyrannosaurus rex' mouth is tentatively put here at just over13,000 newtons (2,900lbs)

The biting strength of an alligator on the other hand is just under 13,000 newtons.

I'm not saying T rex had a weak bite (on the contrary, an alligator has a strong one), but from looking at the muzzles of the two in question and considering the larger dimensions of T rex - would T rex need that pouch of muscle?  Perhaps our resident Tyrannosaur expert (or anyone for that matter) might be able to shed some light on this.

Yours sincerely,

                        Samuel Barnett