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The Tyrannosaurus rex terrorised the ancient world for 85 million years but its closest living relative turns out to be the chicken, research suggests.
The dinosaur may have been armed with 60 dagger-like teeth and boasted the biggest bite of any land animal but analysis of a fossilised bone shows close similarities with modern-day chickens.
Researchers established the link after discovering that a small quantity of soft tissue had been preserved in a 68-million-year-old bone.
Chemical analysis of protein extracted from the fossil showed it to be collagen, the material that gives bone its structure and flexibility.
Further tests using mass spectrometry identified amino acids, which, when compared with those in modern animals, found them to be most closely related to those in chicken bones.
It is the first time that protein has been extracted from fossilised dinosaur remains.
Success in extracting and identifying dinosaur protein opens up the possibility that the evolution of ancient animals could be traced through chemical analysis.
The newly developed techniques involved in identifying the amino acids will have applications in medical research.
In one of two reports outlining the findings, published in the journal Science, the researchers said the same approach could be applied to identify protein sequences in living organisms and “to discover mutations in diseased tissues such as cancers”.
The soft tissue preserved in a T. rex leg bone found at the Hell Creek Formation in Montana was discovered by Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University. She was convinced that protein remained preserved in the fossil but was able to confirm it only after a series of experiments.
The link was not a surprise to researchers because birds are believed by palaeontologists to be descended from dinosaurs.
Dr Schweitzer said that the similarity with the chicken was what they expected.
She added: “This data will help us learn more about dinosaurs’ evolutionary relationships, about how preservation happens, and about how molecules degrade over time, which could also have medical implications for treating disease.”
Dr Schweitzer said that her team had searched for collagen because it was easy to identify and was unlikely to have been produced by microbes in the rock the bone was found in.
It had previously been deemed impossible for organic materials to survive for more than about a million years.
The amino acid sequencing technique was also applied to a fossilised mastodon, estimated to be about half a million years old. It was found to be more closely related to dogs, cattle, humans and elephants than any nonmammalian species.
John Asara, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School in Boston, who led the sequencing study, said that they did not have enough sequences to make a definitive link between the T. rex and the chicken, but the sequences that they did obtain supported the theory.
Meet the family
— Researchers discovered a small quantity of collagen protein in a fossilised Tyrannosaurus rex femur, above, 68 million years old
— Connective tissue from a mastodon between 160,000 and 600,000 years old has also been found
— Analysis of the protein sample shows that modern chickens are the nearest living ancestors to T. rex
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âWatcher Angels?â Creationism?
Yes, we seem to be a country of idiots. My apologies to the rest of the world.
Rob, Knoxville, USA
Descendants of course not ancestors. It seems dinos combinesd feathers and warmblooded physiology . they were most certainly not reptiles.
Frankly I'm amazed at this nonsense regarding some fairy tale from the book of Enoch and a writer saying creationism is based on science.
The soft tissue is inside the bone. Colagen forms part of the bones structure. It is a very tough and reslient protein which if sequestered withi the matrix can survive a very long time under the right conditions.
Dr Nicholas V Ashley, Huntingdon/Cambridgeshire, England
That big "chicken" would still bite you head off, folks.
Dire Weevil, Dallas, United States
I don't think anybody was having relations with animals, sorry try again. The Book of Enoch is the product of ancient Jewish pseudepigraphical literature. The earth was covered in ice 10,000-15,000 years ago and is actually about 4.55 billion years old. Something as incomprehensibly complex like the earth could not have been spit out in a couple of years.
Pall Wall, Rome, Italy
Pay careful attention to the gist of the comments from the United States. That's what is truly terrifying.
Amber, Washington, DC, USA
What's with all these evolution-denying nuts???
Seriously, are you gonna start trying to tell us that the world's flat too??
Ace Holiday, Kennesaw,
Book of Enoch states that "Watcher Angels" came down and mated with women and had giants. To sustain these giants, the local areas of these giants were pillaged from food to environment. It also eludes to the dinosaurs. I have always believed that this story is true. With food running out, the "Watchers" mated with every day "food animals". Thus creating a food supply that would equal height and nourishment. Since finding out about T-Rex's pelvic bone, I have always believed it was just a big chicken, or maybe an ostrich that the discoverers then rearranged bones to make it look different. Dinosaurs are mutated species of every day animals and the finding of protein, sinew or flesh (maybe, maybe not) indicates that they weren't around millions of years ago, more like 10 -15 thousand. Evolution is one big lie.
R.F., Los Angeles,
I would still like to know how this supposedly million plus year old bone had flesh on it. Yes now they say 'protein' but I have the original article stating flesh.
Nemo, Hamilton, MT
Well, now Speilberg will have to rewrite Jurassic Park. in that scene where the T Rex is chasing the Jeep, it shouldn't be growling and roaring. It should cluck!
Paul Farah, Phoenix, AZ
Now we know what dinosaurs tasted like.
Scott Kauz, Iowa Falls, USA
Apparently none of the authors have ever raised chickens! If they were the size of T Rex.....they would be terrifying indeed and would dominate all creatures smaller. Even modern day chickens with their super eyesight and strong legs are more than a match for anything smaller than they are.......and they do not even have teeth!
Hugh Pizek, Portland, Oregon
Col. Saunders is investigating !
Steve Paterson, Southampton, England
68 Million years old but they said previously it could only last for 1 million? Evolution is not the science it claims to be. Go to drdino.com and go to the downloads to get some videos and get some facts the evolutionist don't want to admit to. Looks like the creationist have a lot more science backing them than the evo people.
Kirby Foster, Lampasas, USA/Texas
Soft tissue that is 65 million years old?! Get out of town. Fact is, the bones are only thousands of years old not millions. Also there is no scientific proof that dinosaurs turned into birds. Come on guys.
Alan Shelby, Reno, TX
Can we extract sufficient dna to clone T Rex, using chickens as a host?
I'm prepared to donate my two chickens in return two laying offspring.
This has the potential to transfom my breakfasts!
'One egg o two?'
Richard McLean, Rotorua, New Zealand
Oh how the mighty have fallen!
Eugene, Heidelberg, germany
" Analysis of the protein sample shows that modern chickens are the nearest living ancestors to T. rex"
Who is the ancestor?
Can Lewis Smith try this paragraph again please?
Daniel Robertson, Melbourne, Australia
"Analysis of the protein sample shows that modern chickens are the nearest living ancestors to T. rex "
How can modern chickens be ancestors to T.rex? They are either descendents or descendents of other relatives of T.rex.
And just because the DNA shows them to be closely related, doesn't mean to say they were not trerrifying. To a worm a chicken could be terrifying, to a hman like creature around 3 ft tall, no doubt t.rex was equally terrifying.
Neil Murphy, cromer,