The burning question of every paleontologist - how DID the mighty dinosaurs have sex?

The joy of T-Rex: Scientists show how dinosaurs had sex (tricky, when you weigh 30 tonnes and one crucial part is 12ft long)

By ROB WAUGH
DAILY MAIL
July 11, 2012

Paleontologists answer many tricky questions about dinosaurs - but perhaps the most interesting is how did 30-ton animals larger than four-storey buildings have sex.

A surprising amount of research has been devoted to the subject - and most researchers have concluded that dinosaurs made love like dogs

'All dinosaurs used the same basic position to mate,' said Dr Beverly Halstead, an English researcher who was one of the first to tackle the subject. 'Mounting from the rear, he put his forelimbs on her shoulders, lifting one hind limb across her back and twisting his tail under hers.'

Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaurs mating - like most dinosaur species, the creatures mated like dogs

Sauroposeidon dinosaurs mate: Biologist
Stuart Landry believes that big dinosaurs
would just fall over on land and would have
needed water to provide support

Scientific illustrators have also attempted to capture the intriguing rituals of the huge beasts - including an illustrator who worked with Dr Halstead on a magazine article in 1988.

The physical challenges involved must have been formidable.

The penis of a tyrannosaur is estimated to be around 12 feet long.

Kristi Curry Rogers, Assistant Professor of Biology and Geology at Macalester College in Minnesota, told the Discovery Channel.

'The most likely position to have intercourse is for the male behind the female, and on top of her, and from behind, any other position is unfathomable.’

'I don't think there's much doubt about that,' Dr. Gregory M. Erickson, an evolutionary biologist at Florida State University, told The Huffington Post 'It must have been a hell of a thing to see.'

Some experts have questioned this line of thinking and suggested that dinosaurs romped in water.

Biologist Stuart Landry believes that big dinosaurs would just fall over on land and would have needed water to provide support.

Pentaceratops dinosaurs mating: A surprising amount of research has been devoted to the subject - and most researchers have concluded that dinosaurs made love like dogs