Im generally interested in paleontology, but theres a significant wonder in my tiny brain, How come there we’re so many species of one specific character, yet they are so far away from each other on some cases. So i decided to use the Tyrannosaurus as a base for this question
Comments
It’s kind of echoed in modern animals.
Big cats are a good example, all over the globe. Separate locations. All evolved similar characteristics despite being in differing landscapes.
It’s usually linked to a common ancestor becoming separated over time via migration, moving landmasses etc etc.
Because of continental drift the world’s land masses were more connected 150-65 million years ago, so dinosaurs could spread across more of the world by walking.
The basic model was a success and in every generation more offspring survive than die. So individuals of the species migrate in search of new feeding grounds.
Some of those Tyrannosaurids will make a difficult journey across geographic barriers. A large river. A mountain chain, a narrow land bridge connecting two continents, a body of water to a new island, etc.
As a result they become isolated from each other, forming new breeding groups that have little/no contact with other groups. So eventually new species arise.
Also, remember that Homo (human-like species) has existed for 10 million years and under that period we’ve diverged into 15 identified species. Tyrannosaurids existed for at least 70 million years, and spread all across the globe. That’s a lot of space and a lot of time for isolated breeding populations to exist, thrive and divide into unique variations.