T Rex battle-damaged and shorn tooth?

[Dino Dad 81]

Hey all,

 

This is an unusual ID post. It's actually of the first tooth I ever posted on TFF. Back then I was primarily confirming that it was in fact T Rex and trying to get some understanding of what damage to the tooth was likely to be antemortem/perimortem/postmortem.

 

The tooth is from the Hell Creek in Powder River co, MO and it's about 3". When it was sold to me, the seller felt he was seeing enough antemortem/perimortem trauma that he thought it was safe to say this tooth had seen its share of combat. The most interesting new bit of info someone offered me was that they've seen a number of teeth with the base-break trauma looking the way it does here and he believes they were shorn off during face-biting combat by a tooth of the opponent's. He was referring to the relatively clean slice-break that the tooth suffered rather than having the normal jagged break--and the presence of what appear to be serration-related chips/racking along the edge of the base-break (i.e., from an opponent's tooth). I've also learned a bit about T Rex face-biting since then, including the fact that it seems to occur when Rexes are in that sort of pre-adult growth spurt. This tooth seems to fit that category too, size-wise.

 

I'm wondering if this looks like a battle-damaged and shorn off tooth to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks!!

[JohnJ]

When it comes to behavioral conclusions like this, I default to the "extraordinary claims require extraordinary, exclusive evidence" position.

[JBkansas]

The tip wear appears usage related, hard to say more than that.

[Dino Dad 81]

10 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

When it comes to behavioral conclusions like this, I default to the "extraordinary claims require extraordinary, exclusive evidence" position.

@JohnJ just out of curiosity, have you seen many so cleanly shorn like this one? I've seen some germ teeth that resemble this base break in terms of consistency, but not as sharp and they don't have all the crown trauma. Forget about whether you think it was shorn, can you tell me how common/uncommon it is to see a base break like this?

 

Do you think all of the crown trauma is antemortem?

 

 

3 minutes ago, JBkansas said:

The tip wear appears usage related, hard to say more than that.

@JBkansasThere a relatively clear cut feeding-wear facet or two, The other traumas look sort of smoothed over enough to perhaps be antemortem, but not smooth enough to be feeding-wear facets.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Dino Dad 81

[JohnJ]

8 minutes ago, Dino Dad 81 said:

@JohnJ just out of curiosity, have you seen many so cleanly shorn like this one? I've seen some germ teeth that resemble this base break in terms of consistency, but not as sharp and they don't have all the crown trauma. Forget about whether you think it was shorn, can you tell me how common/uncommon it is to see a base break like this?

 

Do you think all of the crown trauma is antemortem?

 

Dinosaur teeth are well outside my wheelhouse.  However, to conclude a tooth is "battle damaged", would require a reasonable way to exclude dozens of other plausible explanations.

[Troodon]

Looks like a broken T rex tooth versus shed,  I've seen a few.  To try to draw any conclusions how that break occurred would be totally speculative.   I think a more plausible hypothesis would be it occured when feeding on a big bone but that also conjecture. 

Nice tooth

[Dino Dad 81]

Thanks!

 

@Troodon objectively speaking, how common/uncommon is a break like this?

[Troodon]

Not common but Ive seen a few like I said.  You also see it on smaller teeth

[Dino Dad 81]

Do you think the crown trauma is all antemortem? Definitely seems like a well-used tooth.

[Troodon]

No..The big break appears to be antemortem.  The rest who knows but some postmortem/preservation

[Dino Dad 81]

Thank you!