T. rex had a teenage growth spurt — but not all dinos did - CNN

A study of fossilized bone samples from 11 different dinosaurs published Tuesday has revealed that while some transformed during an adolescent growth spurt, others grew slow and steady.

It shows up in the bones as a line, like a tree ring," said Tom Cullen, a scientific affiliate of Chicago's Field Museum and the lead author of a new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"By analyzing these growth lines and examining the bones for new regions of growth, scientists can get a rough estimate of an animal's age and how much it grew every year.

There are also clues in the bone structure," he said in a news statement.

The dinosaurs' growth patterns depended on their family, the researchers found.

(The museum announced last week that it's building the new SECU DinoLab to house and study the fossil pair of a Triceratops horridus and a Tyrannosaurus rex, which will go on display in 2022. The "dueling dinosaurs" are some of the most complete dino skeletons ever found, which will contribute to furthering research on dinosaur biology.)

"Birds have super growth spurts and reach adult size really fast, while reptiles like alligators and various lizards and snakes have extended growth.

rex would have needed during its growth spurt would have been ridiculous," Cullen said.