Tyrannosaurus Rex or T-Rex is one or the best known dinosaurs, if not the best known. It was a huge carnivore at four and a half to seven tons and thirty three to forty six feet long it was big, but not the biggest. Tyrannosaurus means tyrant lizard. It classification is theropada; coelurosauria; tyrannosauridae. Theropod group includes dinosaurs like allosaurs, oviraptor, deinonychus, and velociraptor. The name theropod means beast foot. To be a theropod a dinosaur had to have a lizard hip, eat meat, and walk on two legs.
T-Rex is very popular; it was the main star in Jurassic Park and the Lost World. It has been in many more movies such and King Kong, and land of the lost. It has also had hundreds of documentaries and books about it also.
T-Rex lived in the late cretaceous period, about 68-65 million years ago. Making it one of the last dinosaurs to go extinct. It lived in Canada and western United States.
T-Rex was discovered in 1902 in Montana. They found a skull over five feet long and full of eight inch long teeth. At the time it was the largest predator ever discovered. It kept that title for almost a hundred years.
T-Rex was one of the largest, if not the largest predators to live in North America. It ate dinosaurs like edmontosaurus, hadrosaurus, and triceratops. There is an argument going on about whether T-Rex was a predator or scavenger. The predator theory is supported by many things like large areas of the brain devoted to vision and smell, but a scavenger also needs good smell and vision. A recent study shows that it had a bite force three times a strong as a lion. To me that does not seem like a lot for an animal seven teen times larger than a lion. Another thing for the scavenger theory is the tiny arms. They would not have been good for grabbing prey. In my opinion T-Rex was most likely both a hunter and a scavenger like modern alligators. T-Rex probably hunted but also took advantage of another animals kill.
T-Rex is one of the biggest predators to ever walk the earth. It was the tank of North America back in the late cretaceous. Its size and bulk brings shock and aw to people young and old. It is one of the best known dinosaurs, and its popularity will never die.
Paul Barrett, National Geographic Dinosaurs, Washington D.C.: Firecrest Books LTD, 1999
Paul Dowswell, John Malam, Paul Mason, Steve Parker, The Ultimate Book of Dinosaurs, Fressingfield: Monkey Puzzle Media LTD, 2000
