Not all giant, meat-eating dinosaurs had the same kind of bite.
A new study has revealed that while the famous Tyrannosaurus rex had a skull built for delivering quick, powerful bites—similar to a crocodile—other large predators, such as spinosaurs and allosaurs, had much weaker bites and hunted in different ways.
The research, published in Current Biology, looked at 18 species of carnivorous dinosaurs.
The results show that even though these predators reached massive sizes and walked on two legs, they evolved very different skull designs and feeding strategies.
“Carnivorous dinosaurs took very different paths as they evolved into giants,” said Andrew Rowe from the University of Bristol, UK.
“Tyrannosaurs developed skulls for strength and bone-crushing power, while other species had lighter, more specialized skulls. There wasn’t just one ‘best’ design for being a top predator—several worked equally well.”
Rowe, who has always been fascinated by giant carnivorous dinosaurs, worked with co-author Emily Rayfield to explore how walking on two legs (bipedalism) might have influenced their skull structure and feeding methods.
They were curious whether these large predators—despite looking similar in size—had skulls that worked in the same way or if there were big differences beneath the surface.
Since no massive, two-legged predators are alive today, the researchers relied on fossils and modern technology to study them. Using 3D tools, including CT scans and surface scans, they recreated the dinosaurs’ skulls and measured how they might have worked in life.
This allowed them to calculate bite strength, skull stress, and feeding performance for each species.
The results were surprising. Tyrannosaurids, including T. rex, had skulls that could generate very high bite forces, but this came with higher stress on the bones.
In contrast, other giants such as Giganotosaurus showed stress patterns linked to lighter bites. This suggests that evolution created several different “solutions” for surviving as a large, meat-eating dinosaur.
Interestingly, skull stress did not always increase with size. Some smaller theropods experienced greater stress than certain larger ones because of differences in muscle size and bite force.
The findings challenge the idea that all big predators were bone-crushers like T. rex. Spinosaurs and allosaurs, for example, likely used their teeth and jaws more for slashing and tearing flesh than for crushing bones. Rowe compares Allosaurus to a modern Komodo dragon, which uses quick, slicing bites.
In contrast, tyrannosaurs were more like crocodiles, using immense power to crush and kill prey.
This variety in feeding styles suggests that giant carnivores in dinosaur ecosystems may not have been in direct competition as much as we think. Instead, they likely occupied different hunting niches, allowing several top predators to thrive side by side.
