Palaeontologists at the University of Southampton have used artificial intelligence to analyse the structures of five predatory dinosaur teeth from the early Cretaceous period. The surprising result: small tyrannosaurs lived in England around 139 to 134 million years ago. The analysed fossils offer fascinating insights into the unexpectedly large variety of predatory dinosaurs that were widespread in Great Britain at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the teeth were discovered a long time ago, their exact classification was difficult using previous methods. To solve this, the research team trained an AI that is able to assign subtle structural differences in the teeth to specific groups of predatory dinosaurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The results of the analysis showed that spinosaurs, medium-sized tyrannosaurs and small dromaeosaurs coexisted in south-east England. Of particular note is the discovery of small tyrannosaurs, which were previously unknown from this region and epoch. These carnivores were only around a third of the size of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex and probably hunted smaller dinosaurs and reptiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The discovery of spinosaurs is also of particular significance: it represents the earliest known appearance of this species in Europe. Spinosaurs are characterised by crocodile-like snouts, bipedal locomotion and often distinctive dorsal spines. However, it was not possible to precisely identify the teeth found down to genus level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study illustrates how AI can help solve even centuries-old palaeontological puzzles and gain new insights into the life of dinosaurs millions of years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Palaeontologists at the University of Southampton have used artificial intelligence to analyse the structures of five predatory dinosaur teeth from the early Cretaceous period. The surprising result: small tyrannosaurs lived in England around 139 to 134 million years ago. The analysed fossils offer fascinating insights into the unexpectedly large variety of predatory dinosaurs that were […]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"yoast_head":"\n