T-Rex Facts
- Name: Tyrannosaurus rex (ty-ran-oh-saw-rus-reks) means ‘king of the tyrant reptiles’
- Size: 14m long and 5.6m high
- Food: meat, especially other dinosaurs
- Lived: about 67 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period in North America, China and possibly South America and India
The Tyrannosaurus rex was the biggest meat-eating dinosaur that ever lived on Earth and was probably one of the fiercest.
The T-rex was about as long as four cars, as tall as the tallest giraffe, and weighed about the same as an African elephant. The head of a tall man would have come half way up its thigh.
No one knows exactly the sort of noises Т rex made, but it may have roared or squealed to call its young and to keep in touch with other members of its group.
The T-Rex Had Huge Feet!
Each of its back feet were the size of an A-1 sheet of paper. It had three long claws at the front and one at the back. Its front legs were quite small and high up on its body. They ended in what looked like small ‘hands’ with two thin, clawed fingers.
No one knows for certain what these front legs were used for, but they may have been used to grip prey. They were not even long enough to reach its mouth to push food in.
Some experts, though, have suggested that T-rex used its front legs to heave itself up on to its back legs after it had been resting or sleeping on the ground.
Big Head
Its heavy head was about 1.2m long, held up by a short, strong neck. Tyrannosaurus also had huge jaws, big enough to swallow a human being whole.
Its rows of sharp teeth were slightly curved to get a better grip on its prey. Like a shark, once Tyrannosaurus had bitten into its prey, the victim had no chance of sliding out of its mouth and getting away.
If any teeth were broken off in a fight, they may have grown again.
Walking Tall
Walking upright on its powerful back legs, Tyrannosaurus balanced its huge body with its long, thick tail.
With its enormous legs, it could run very fast, but it was probably too big and heavy to move quickly for a long time, like hunting dogs do today.
Instead, T-rex may have relied on ambushing its prey in the thick trees and ferns. Some experts think that Tyrannosaurus may have hunted in packs, surrounding other dinosaurs, such as a herd of plant-eating Triceratops or Edmontosaurus, so that they could not escape.
Scientists think that it may also have eaten carrion (dead dinosaurs), and perhaps any dying or helpless young dinosaurs that it came across.
Powerful Fighters
Many dinosaurs were very large, but they had trouble defending themselves against Tyrannosaurus. They did not have the teeth or claws to put up a real fight, but some were protected by tough, armourplated skins, thick bony plates around their necks or long, sharp horns on their heads. Others were small and light, and could run fast enough to escape.
Discovery of T-Rex Fossil
In 1902, part of a huge skeleton was uncovered in Montana, USA. Later, another was found in Wyoming, also in the USA.
From these bones the American palaeontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn drew up the first picture of this giant creature.
He named it Tyrannosaurus rex (meaning ‘king of the tyrant reptiles’) because it was the biggest meat-eating dinosaur then known to have lived on Earth.