VOA Special English

Finally, can you imagine taking a bite out of Tyrannosaurus Rex? T. Rex, as it was called, was that huge, fierce dinosaur often seen in films. The chickens people eat today do not look much like the ancient meat-eating animal. But evidence is increasing that T. Rex was the ancestor of the farm birds of today. The theory developed because the dinosaur and the chicken had similar bone structures.

Now, American scientists say they have confirmed the idea. Their study was published recently in Science magazine. The investigators said the gene structure of T. Rex was more like that of chickens than reptiles of today, like alligators. The gene structure of the T. Rex also was similar to that of the ostrich, a big bird that does not fly.

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The researchers were able to make those statements partly because of an event in two thousand three. At that time, John Horner of Montana State University found a T. Rex fossil in an area between the states of Montana and Wyoming. The fossil was removed from the bottom of what is called the Hell Creek Formation.

The dinosaur was not large, and appeared to be about eighteen years old when it died. It took three years for scientists from the Museum of the Rockies in Montana to get the bone out of the rock formation where it was buried. It was far from a road, and too heavy to be lifted by helicopter.

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Professor Horner says the scientists were forced to something that they always want to prevent. They had to break the bone into two pieces. But dividing it made possible the unlikely discovery of soft tissue.

Part of the leg bone was taken to dinosaur expert Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University. While examining it, she and her technical aide noted signs of soft tissue. This kind of tissue contains blood vessels. The technician, Jennifer Wittmeyer, did the tests repeatedly because Miz Schweitzer could not believe what she was seeing.

The soft tissues had lasted through sixty-eight million years. Scientists probably never had made such a discovery before, said Miz Schweitzer. Soft tissues usually disappear over time, while hard tissues like bones become fossils.

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