July/August 2005

Dinosaur: Tyrannosaurus rex
Pronounced: tie-RAN-oh-SAW-rus rex
Means "tyrant lizard king"
Length: 42 feet
Height: 13 feet
Weight: 7 tons
Diet: Carnivore
Lived: in the Cretaceous period
Found: North America & Asia
Most notable feature: One of the largest terrestrial carnivores that has ever lived.

T.rex illustration courtesy of Todd Marshall

   Tyrannosaurus rex was a massive theropod (a "lizard-hipped" bi-pedal carnivorous dinosaur). It had a powerful tail to balance a massive head. It had tiny but strong arms that may have been used as meat hooks. Tyrannosaurus rex fossils are rare so the discovery of a huge, 90-percent complete T. rex later named "Sue" was a momentous discovery. Not only is she the largest and most complete T. rex found to date, she is the best preserved. Sue has 58 serrated teeth with some up to 12 inches long! Sue could eat 500 pounds in one bite which was swallowed whole because she couldn't chew. T. rex is considered by most to have been a warm-blooded predator. There has been some debate that T. rex may have been a scavenger. Like most modern predators, it was probably both. T-rex was long considered to be the largest land carnivore, but at the moment, Giganotosaurus and its African relative, Carcharodontosaurus, hold the record with estimates ranging from 46 to 49 feet. However, the specimens are few and partial so expect the size record holder to change with new discoveries. The RMDRC has a very large (40-foot) T. rex on display and a remarkable find currently being prepared in the lab -- a juvenile T. rex named Sir William. When Sir William's restoration is complete he will be put on exhibit in the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center exhibit hall.


Vote for your favorite
 dinosaur or prehistoric animal to be featured
in upcoming issues of the Dig Site.
Email your vote to sheila@rmdrc.com or mail it to RMDRC, 201 S. Fairview St., Woodland Park, CO  80863.

Thank you to Jackson Baker
 for suggesting this issue's
featured dinosaur!

 
 

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-- Ashley

 

 


 

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