TYRANNOSAURUS REX HATCHLING

BLOOD IN THE BONE

BY DELBERT S. DUNCAN
d3co@comcast.net

Introduction:
In June of 1998 the fossil fragments of a tiny
hatchling Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur were
discovered. The find site was on the Hell Creek
Ranch northerly of Jordan, Montana.
Specifically the fossil materials were fragments
of the leg bone, and were found on the surface
in an alluvial material. The fossil site is at about
2715 feet in elevation, and is located
northeasterly of Brownie Butte.
the microscope that has four complete sections
of the femur shaft ground down to 30 um in
thickness. This slide is the basis for this treatise.
Blood has been found before in dinosaur fossil
bone, but I did not know that the red blood cells
could retain their original color. It has been
hypothesized that the species of animal can be
determined from a single red blood cell.

This fossil material is from a very young
Tyrannosaurus rex, and is very small in size. It is
estimated to be about 50 cm from nose to tail,
and 800 gr in weight. The femur shaft is
fragmented into three pieces, and appears to
be solid. This fragment was sent to Burnham
Petrographic in Idaho. They produced a slide for
There is a quote from Albert Einstein that is
applicable "To elementary laws there leads no
logical path, but only intuition, supported by
being sympathetically in touch with
experience".

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Red Blood Cell:
The image in the above photomicrograph is
a red blood cell at rest from a very young
Tyrannosaurus rex hatchling. This blood cell
appears as a biconcave red cell, and is
typical of a warm blooded vertebra animal.
A careful review of this image indicates
some uncommon elements in this cell. The
first is its very large size. This red blood cell
is 128 um in diameter for an animal that
only weighs 800 gr, The red blood cell of a
human is from 7 um to 8 um in diameter,
and that is for a man that might weigh 200
lb.
The second uncommon element that jumps
out of this image is that the cell is very red.
Red blood cells in humans are red due to
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the iron core in the heme. Each red blood
cell contains four heme, and each has an
iron core. The heme has a protein string, or
group attached. This protein string will
attach to four oxygen molecules in the
lungs which then can be carried to the
capillaries. The red blood cell at this point
will discharge the oxygen, which is allowed
to migrate through the wall of the capillary,
and deliver the oxygen to the other cells in
the body. The red blood cell is now able to
pick up carbon dioxide for the return trip to
the lungs.
It has been shown that the size of a mature
animal has no bearing on the size of a red
blood cell. A list of domestic animals are
shown in the following table. This data is collected from a study of animal species based on the red
blood cell. It is clear that the mass of an animal has nothing to do with the diameter of the red blood
cell.

The following information is quoted from a study by Hezar Adili, Mohamed Melizi, and Hadi Belabbas
titled Species Determination Using The Red Blood Cells Morphometry in Domestic Animals:

Influence of red blood cells diameter on the species determination of pets (Group 2, expressed in
μm).

Crossing Hamra Arbia English German

Groups
cattle sheep goats horses Shepherd
Global (n=30) 5.02±0.14a 4.38±0.13b 3.90±0.12c 5.76±0.18d 6.92±0.24e
Adult males
4.98±0.12a 4.39±0.15b 3.38±0.11c 5.76±0.19d 6.95±0.23e
(n=15)
6.88±0.26e
Adult females (n=15) 5.05±0.16a 4.37±0.12b 3.40±0.13c 5.75±0.18d
A careful review of the above table shows that blood cell will only go to a given size capillaries.
an animal mass has no bearing on the size of
the red blood cell. What does come to light in
this study is that the fetal of a species has larger
red blood cells than does a mature adult of the
same species. The study also points out that as
an animal matures the red blood cells get
smaller. In the modern world the animal with
the largest known red blood cells is the Urodele
Amphibians.

Red blood cells within a given species vary a

great deal in size, but the red blood cells in this
fossil bone seems to vary in a greater amount
than any known animal. The smallest red blood
cell found in this fossil bone was 37 um in
diameter, while the largest was 128 um in
diameter. We have also found red blood cells in
the 116 um diameter range. The logic of these
measurements is what determines the the size
of a red blood cell.
The first limiting factor of a red blood cell might
be the size of the capillaries that it must get
into. There is no known means by which red
blood cells can be sorted so that a given size
The above image is the smallest red blood cell
found within this fossil bone. Red blood cells
take this shape when they are at rest.
Deformability is an element that a red blood cell
possess. This allows them to take on different
shapes to fit into the capillaries. It has been
stated that red blood cells can deform, and fit
into capillaries that are up to twenty five per
cent smaller than the diameter of the cell when
at rest. It is well known that red blood cells do
not contain DNA. The DNA found in blood
comes from the white blood cells. The white
blood cells may be the most important to find.

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Figure 1White Blood Cell @ 1600 X

White Blood cell:

The above photomicrograph is of a white blood

cell that appears to be cleaning up. The white
blood cell provides the DNA in the blood
stream. The fact that they can be found in fossil
bone is an important clue as to how
Tyrannosaurus rex lived.

The white blood cells vary a great deal in size.

They may be larger than the capillaries, or
smaller. Some white blood cells reside in the
body, and do not flow with the normal blood
flow. These white cells can be much larger in The above photomicrograph is a possible
size. White blood cells in the tissue may Basophil white blood cell found in the femur
respond much more quickly. shaft of the tyrannosaurus rex fossil.

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The above photomicrograph illustrates how the
white blood cell can adapt to shapes that better
suit their environment. This cell may reside in
the bone marrow for some time ready to fight
infection.
This white blood cell takes on a different shape,
but may well function in a like manner. All the
white cells that are shown were discovered in
the bone marrow of the femur shaft.
The nuclei of the white blood cells is the portion
that contains the DNA of the animal. The reason
that the red blood cells do not contain DNA is
that these cells have given up their nuclei when
they became a red blood cell.
Stem Cells:
The blood of this Tyrannosaurus rex hatchling
also contains stem cells. The photomicrograph
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of the femur shaft marrow has most of what
might be called normal blood cells. It is
assumed that these cells, that are discovered
herein, are in fact mineralized .
The above photomicrograph is a stem cell
within the marrow of the femur shaft. The
darker small area on the left side of the cell is
the nucleus of this stem cell. It is on the surface
of the cell because this nucleus is being expelled
from the cell. This stem cell will become a red
blood cell in the animal. A blood forming stem
cell such as this is considered hematopoietic.
Conclusion:
When an animal dies the remains do not have
much chance to become a mineralized fossil. A
fossil can only occur if the remains are buried
immediately with earth, and/or water that
deprives the carcass of all air. The water and silt
will also protect the remains from all other
forms of life that might otherwise feed upon
the animal. When an animal gets buried in this
manner the normal process of decomposition is
greatly slowed. This slowing down of
decomposition sometimes allows mineralization
to take place. This process of fossil formation is
a very rare occurrence. When a fossil is created
in this manner the animal needs to have died vessels, which are much more densely packed,
very near, or in water, and the remains had to and provide a far more efficient delivery system
have sediments burying them immedeitly. for the oxygen.

The mineralization of the blood cells within this
fossil of Tyrannosaurus rex hatchling has
exceptional detail of the cells. A great deal of
information about Tyrannosaurus rex hatchlings
may be obtained from the study of these blood
cells. The red blood cell, as shown below,
The colossal question that demands an answer
is:
Can the DNA of Tyrannosaurus rex be obtained
from these white blood cells?
The answer to this question is not easy for
many reasons. First if the bone marrow and
white blood cells are both mineralized fossil
then we assume that all the organic matter has
been replaced by mineral rock, and the DNA is
lost. If the bone marrow has mineralized in a
very rapid manner, and trapped the white blood
cells in an organic state, then it might be
possible to extract the DNA. This effort requires
the equipment, and skill beyond the abilities of
this author.

provides information that this Tyrannosaurus **************************************

rex was warm blooded. The size of the red
blood cell first shown within this treaties
indicates that this animal was very young when
it died. The size of this red blood cell also gives
indication that its circulatory system was
primitive. This means that the capillaries were
large, and widely spaced. This does not allow
the system to deliver oxygen in the manner
needed.

Modern terrestrial vertebrates have smaller red

blood cells than the Tyrannosaurus rex , and
they are better athletes. In order to have the
energy to sustain vigorous exercise, the body's
tissues need a steady supply of oxygen, and red
blood cells are the center of the oxygen delivery
system (from the University of Utah). The
smaller red blood cells allow smaller capillary