Tyrannosaurus Rex was a ‘sensitive lover’, and dinosaur couples enjoyed foreplay

It’s rather difficult to picture: the most terrifying predator in Earth’s history, nuzzling up to its lover tenderly before sex.

But T-Rex may not have been quite as ferocious as it’s painted – as scientists found that the 20-foot carnivore actually had a snout as sensitive as human fingertips.

Scientists believe that the tyrannosaurs may have rubbed their faces together in a form of foreplay, and used their snouts to pick up eggs and baby tyrannosaurs.

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The find comes from the discovery of an unusually intact skull of a member of the tyrannosaur family, Daspletosaurus horneri in Montana, America.

The researchers write, ‘In courtship, tyrannosaurids might have rubbed their sensitive faces together as a vital part of pre-copulatory play.

The skull allowed researchers to see how the hard surface of the snout had lots of small nerve openings known as ‘foramina’ – making the dinosaur’s face as sensitive as a hand.