Absolute abundance and preservation rate of Tyrannosaurus rex.

摘要: Although much can be deduced from fossils alone, estimating abundance and preservation rates of extinct species requires data living species. Here, we use the relationship between population density body mass among combined with our substantial knowledge Tyrannosaurus rex to calculate variables for postjuvenile T. rex. We estimate that its at any one time was ~20,000 individuals, it persisted ~127,000 generations, total number ever lived ~2.5 billion a fossil recovery rate 1 per ~80 million individuals or 16,000 where are most abundant. The uncertainties in these values span more than two orders magnitude, largely because variance density–body rather paleobiological input variables.