The king of the dinosaurs may have been an accidental gardener. Tyrannosaurus rex was a famed carnivore, but it seems it may also have spread fruit seeds, as a result of gobbling down plant-eating prey.

Many plants rely on animals to disperse their seeds . They produce seeded fruits to attract herbivores which consume the fruit and defecate the seeds. Carnivores, which have no interest in fruit, can also end up with seeds in their dung from eating herbivores.

Tetsuro Yoshikawa at National Institute for Environmental Studies in …