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Tyrannosaurus Rex: Tastes Like Chicken?

Study says birds are dinosaurs' closest living descendants

By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser User

Posted Apr 24, 2008 8:01 PM CDT

(Newser) – Dinosaurs are more closely related to birds than reptiles, protein extracted from a Tyrannosaurus rex bone suggests. T. rex collagen, the main protein in bones, is similar to chicken and ostrich collagen but much different than material from alligators and lizards, scientists say. The findings could remap the evolutionary tree according to molecular data rather than bone structure, the Washington Post reports.

DNA usually can't be extracted from specimens more than 100,000 years old, moving some critics to wonder whether the 68-million-year-old T. rex sample was contaminated. But the team says it is all but certain the findings are legit. They will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.

The scull of a Tyrannosaurus rex is hoisted into position by workers at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008.
The scull of a Tyrannosaurus rex is hoisted into position by workers at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008.   (Associated Press)
Fresh chicken are seen on display as a store attendant assists customers Saturday, April 12, 2008, at a public market in Quezon City north of Manila, Philippines.
Fresh chicken are seen on display as a store attendant assists customers Saturday, April 12, 2008, at a public market in Quezon City north of Manila, Philippines.   (Associated Press)
This is the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008.
This is the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008.   (Associated Press)
Paul Zawisha, center, works with a crew to install the head on a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
Paul Zawisha, center, works with a crew to install the head on a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.   (Associated Press)
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