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To help determine this, a team from James Cook University is examining the geological features around where the fossils were discovered.
JCU associate professor Eric Roberts is leading the geological aspect of the study and says it is more difficult than usual to determine because the fossil was found by private fossil hunters, who did not carry out a proper scientific investigation of the area before remove the specimen.
The T-rex’s skull was partially removed from the surrounding rock.Credit:Eric Roberts
“I went out on the site with a group of college students and we tried to understand all the context that typically goes with a fossil like this,” said Dr. Roberts.
“So my role is to relocate that context so that I can evaluate some of the very exciting assumptions surrounding this specimen.
“They call it Dueling Dinosaurs, but we don’t know if they were dueling or not, however there is some pretty exceptional evidence to suggest it’s a possibility.”
Dr Roberts said the way the skeletons are intertwined suggests they were buried at the same time, as does the geological evidence from the field.
The Montana site where the fossil was found. The region is known as a rich source of fossils, particularly from the Cretaceous period, when T-rex and Triceratops roamed.Credit:Eric Roberts
Furthermore, initial investigations suggest the Triceratops has teeth embedded in the spine, while the T-rex has broken teeth and fractures which could also be related to the conflict.
The reason the specimen is only being examined in detail now is because it was the subject of a legal dispute for several years before being bought by a non-profit group and donated to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Dr Roberts said the research community is very happy that it can now be studied, because it could be incredibly important to our understanding of two iconic dinosaur species.
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“Despite their fame, only a handful of T-rex specimens have been recovered and this will be the most complete T-rex skeleton ever found, it’s at least 99% complete and articulated,” he said.
“And it looks like this could be almost a complete Triceratops skeleton too, and finding them both in the same repository is exciting.”
Researchers at the North Carolina Museum are meticulously removing the rock surrounding the fossils, ahead of a public display scheduled for 2022.
Dr. Roberts is also preparing to lead a team of JCU students to the site once he returns to travel safely during the global pandemic to get more data from the Montana site.
Stuart Layt is in charge of health, science and technology for the Brisbane Times. He was previously the Queensland political reporter for AAP.
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