Outrageous heads led to outrageously large dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurus rex and other large meat-eating theropods were the biggest baddies on the prehistoric block, and ornaments on their heads could help us figure out why. New research from North Carolina State University shows that theropod dinosaur species with bony crests, horns and knobs evolved to giant body sizes 20 times faster than those species lacking such embellishments. Additionally, the research shows that theropod dinosaurs most closely related to birds abandoned the hard ornaments strategy of their ancestors and likely used feathers for visual communication.

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