bones. In his 2013 lecture, Thomas R. Holtz Jr. stated that fused nasal bones and the presence of incisors were some of the unique traits of Tyrannosaurus and its relatives. He stated that most reptiles do not have incisors, having teeth at the front of the jaw that are similar to those in the rest of the jaw, and suggested that these incisors were used to scrape the meat from bones. He also stated that Tyrannosaurus teeth were different from previous theropods because they were thick from side to side, and while the teeth of many other theropods had roots just as long as the crown, the teeth of Tyrannosaurus had roots that were twice as long as the crowns. He further states that the teeth of Tyrannosaurus didn't look like they were for cutting, but instead looked like they were for pulverizing, crushing and piercing. In 2012, a study of the jaws of Tyrannosaurus by biomechanical expert Karl Bates of the University of Liverpool and paleontologist Peter Falkingham of the Royal Veterinary College, London, and Brown University was published in Biology Letters. Bates and Falkingham used computer modeling to reconstruct Tyrannosauruss skull and relevant jaw musculature based on anatomical research on crocodilians and birds. From these reconstructions, it was estimated that Tyrannosaurus was likely capable of exerting a bite force of between 35 and 57 kN (kilonewtons) (7,800–12,700 pounds force), around ten times as great as the strongest alligator bite. However, other, heavier predators, such as the crocodilian Deinosuchus and the giant shark megalodon, surpassed this bite in strength, having bite forces of about 100 kN and 180 kN respectively. The study also revealed that a juvenile Tyrannosaurus had a bite force of no more than 880 pounds force, or 3.9 kN, and that the bite became more powerful as the animal matured. This also supports the theory that juvenile Tyrannosaurus hunted different prey in a form of niche partitioning so as to avoid competition with the adults. Additionally, research done by Greg Erikson and Paul Gignac et al. and published in the journal Scientific Reports indicates that Tyrannosaurus could bite down with around 8,000 pounds force (36 kN) when feeding, exerting a pressure of 431,000 pounds per square inch (3 gigapascals) with their teeth. This adaptation allowed Tyrannosaurus to drive open cracks present in bone during repetitive, mammal-like biting and produce high-pressure fracture arcades, leading to catastrophic explosions