Was the brain of Tyrannosaurus completely enclosed within a cranium, or did any of the fenestrae of it’s skull window to the brain? Faced with a hungry tyrannosaur, could someone with a handgun shoot it directly in the brain with a well-aimed shot?
I’m pretty sure that those large-headed theropods had those arched, lightweight skull parts in areas of their heads away from the brain itself, which was completely enclosed. IANAPaleontologist, but I used to have a posted of the “Head Skeleton of an Allosaur” up on my wall (I don’t know why they couldn’t call it a “Skull”), and I recall it showing the brain enclosed.
Here is the best diagram I could find. It’s hard to tell, but it does look as if either the orbit or one of the fenestrae would at least be the thnnest part of the skull to try to penetrate.
With a big enough handgun (okay, rifle) you could presumably cause enough trauma to kill it by shooting through the bone.
The brain was completely enclosed. See page 22 of this paper (.pdf doc) for a Daspletosaurus braincase, for example (Daspletosaurus was a close relative of Tyrannosaurus). The bones surrounding the brain of a Tyrannosaurus appear to have been only about 3mm thick, and heavily pneumaticized, so I wouldn’t doubt that a high-powered gun could penetrate the bone. Actually hitting the brain, on the other hand, given its size, is probably another rmatter entirely…
By completely enclosed, do you mean there’s bone behind the orbital?
I’m not quite sure what you mean. But you can see on page 4 of that paper where the braincase sits in the skull: it’s that mass of bone that you can see in the middle of the orbital cavity extending to the back of the skull (though it’s really sitting midline, between the orbitals, as seen in the ventral image [the second image on page 4]. The basipterygoid forms part of the floor of the braincase). Of course, it’s not entirely encased, as there are necessarily assorted foramen through which nerves and blood vessels passed.
That’s what I meant - could a bullet pass through the eyeball and into the brain without passing through bone - and I gather the answer is more or less no.
Why would someone with a hand gun be in close proximity to a living T-Rex?
Would you walk up to a living T-Rex unarmed?
Point taken. I humbly withdraw.
I was imagining a hypothetical Dr. Who episode in which someone from UNIT becomes a companion for at least for one trip back to the Mesozoic. Cornered by a hungry T-Rex, they fire off a single desperate forlorn-hope shot, which turns out to be the luckiest shot of their life when it hits the T-Rex straight in the brain through the thinnest part of the skull.
That is not a very likely Dr. Who episode. When has a member of UNIT *ever *run into something that could be stopped by bullets?
The SF reference is A Gun For Dinosaur, by L Sprague do Camp, about why hunting parties to the Mesozoic should not carry wimp guns like a .303.
Actually UNIT did quite well in The Sontaran Stratagem, once they finally switched to non-copper cartridges.
As for the size gun needed for dinosaurs, I was imagining a two-three episode companion (like Harry Sullivan or Mickey Smith) who much to the Doctor’s disapproval is a bit of a gun nut, and carries an enormously powerful handgun (like a S&W 500, or European equivalent), and one of the running gags would be that on select occasions he demonstrates that brute force is indeed the answer. Perhaps inspired by The Sontaran Stratagem, whenCol. Mace simply shoots General Staal dead.
A couple of years back I was at a talk by a scientist who was involved in the study/mounting of the T-Rex “Sue.”
As I recall, they performed considerable testing, including CT scans, on the skull.
You might find some info of interest by searching for Sue and CT scan.
I found something here, but can’t run the images at work.
Time machine. Hunting service. Butterfly. You know the drill.
Stranger
Another reason why I love the Dope. Frank discussions on the best way to kill things like dinosaurs and zombies.