They were both hunters and scavengers.įor a long period of time, it was assumed that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was a predatory carnivore, but there was simply no evidence to back it up.Ī 2013 study changed all that, though, when a T-Rex tooth was discovered embedded in another dinosaur’s tailbone. In prehistoric times, Laramidia was an island continent that now makes up parts of the west coast of North America, from Alaska down to southwest Mexico. The Tyrannosaurus Rex only lived in North America.Īlthough they’re now famous all over the world, the T-Rex only ever lived in a small part of the ancient world called Laramidia. Studies on close relatives of the T-Rex have found insulating feathers over much of their bodies.Ī 2017 study that reviewed all evidence to date of skin samples concluded that if the Tyrannosaurus Rex had ever had any feathers, they would have only been found on the upper parts of the body, possibly running along its back and neck. The jury is still out on whether the Tyrannosaurus Rex had any feathers, but it’s looking more and more likely. This is a point that is certain to ruffle a few feathers among long-term T-Rex fans. To put that into perspective, a human can bite down with around 175 pounds of force (778 N), making a Tyrannosaurus Rex’s bite more than 73 times stronger than ours! They may have had a few feathers, too! It was found that they could exert up to 12,814 pounds of force (57,000 N) with their vicious jaws. You wouldn’t ever have wanted to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex smile, either – An adult T-Rex had 60 teeth, some measuring up to 1 foot (30.5 cm) long!Īs scary as those teeth sound, they’re nowhere near as scary as its bite – A 2012 study found that of all land animals ever studied, the T-Rex had the strongest bite! While their arms may have been tiny and just a little bit ridiculous, don’t begin to think these pre-historic predators weren’t a fearsome foe!Ī fully-grown T-Rex had quite an impressive bite, with a jaw that was around 4 feet (1.2 m) long. The Tyrannosaurus Rex had one of the most powerful bites of all known dinosaurs. Some of the more realistic theories state that they were used to hold onto prey while attacking them with their vicious jaws or to help themselves get up off the ground. So, what were they for? We may never know! It’s something that we may only ever be able to make crazy hypotheses about. This is most likely untrue, as the bones in their arms have clear signs that despite their size, their arms were incredibly muscular! Some scientists claim that the arms of a Tyrannosaurus Rex were vestigial, meaning they were something left over from a previous evolution (like our tail bones). While the average human arm is around 2.1 feet (64 cm) long, a T-Rexes arm was just 3.3 feet (1 meter) long! We also still have no idea what their arms were for! While your average T-Rex would have loomed multiple times higher than your average human, their arms were only just a bit longer than ours! In case you missed it, these fearsome pre-historic beasts had absolutely ridiculous little arms. Through its name, the Tyrannosaurus was crowned king, or more specifically, the Tyrant Lizard King! The T-Rex had arms that were so small it will make you laugh. Osborn eventually chose the name Tyrannosaurus Rex, bringing the Greek words “tyrannos,” meaning “tyrant,” “sauros” meaning lizard, and the Latin word “Rex,” which translates to King. Osborn and his associates instantly recognized that this new dinosaur was at the top of its class and, as such, needed a fitting name. ![]() The man responsible for naming the Tyrannosaurus Rex was Henry Fairfield Osborn, the president of the American Museum of Natural history at the time of the dinosaur’s discovery and identification in 1905. Now that we have a vague idea of what a Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) looked like, let’s have a look at some of the more interesting details that really stood them apart from other dinosaurs! The Tyrannosaurus Rex has a very regal name. They were one of the largest of all known predators that ever roamed the earth, weighing in at around 9.3 tons (8.4 tonnes) to 15.4 tons (14 tonnes). If you were to ask about the scariest dinosaur, you’d probably get the same answer again.įor those of you who don’t know that much about dinosaurs, here’s a general idea of what a Tyrannosaurus Rex was like.įirstly, they were terrifyingly large, measuring up to 40 feet (12.3 m) long and 12 feet (3.66 m) when measured up to the top of their hips. If you were to go around and survey people on what the most famous dinosaur that ever lived is, they would probably say the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
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