In fact, that is just what would happen. The name Tyrannosaurus rex means “King of the Tyrant Lizards.” The sheer size and power of a tyrannosaur is amazing. An adult T-rex could grow up to 40 feet long. That’s four feet longer than a school bus. And it weighed about 9 tons. That’s 18,000 pounds. Its height was about 13 feet tall at its hip. (Paleontologists measure there because Tyrannosaur didn’t stand straight up.) Its head was huge – five feet long – and it had banana-shaped teeth that could grow as long as 12 inches! The teeth were also serrated, having jagged edges running up and down the front and back of the tooth. This meant it could slice through meat like a steak knife. Its bite was so powerful it could go right through almost any bone. Joseph Castro, a writer for Live Science, compared the strength of its bite to the same impact as a medium-size elephant sitting down.
T-rex lived at the very end of the reign of dinosaurs, about 68-66.5 million years ago, during what’s called the Cretaceous Period. It was first discovered in Montana in 1902, though fossils of it have been found from Canada to Texas. It was, of course, a meat-eater, a carnivore. Footprints of other, similar dinosaurs have been found showing they traveled in packs, so Tyrannosaurus might have done so, too.
For years paleontologists have argued about whether this huge creature was an active predator, hunting and killing live prey, or a scavenger, feasting on animals that were already dead. They were certainly big enough to chase other dinosaurs away from any dead animal, but many people feel Tyrannosaurus wouldn’t have been able to find enough to eat this way.
Scientists argued for years, but a study published in 2013, provided evidence supporting the idea of T-rex, the hunter. Fossils from a hadrosaur, a duckbilled dinosaur, were dug up in South Dakota, and the crown of a Tyrannosaurus tooth was found embedded in its tail. But the tail showed signs that it had healed after being bit. An already dead animal doesn’t heal. The T-rex must have attacked it, but the duckbilled dinosaur got away.
Another clue that T-rex was a hunter comes from studies that show that the powerful muscles in its legs could have allowed it to run as fast as 25 mph. A scavenger doesn’t need to run that fast, though most likely Tyrannosaurus ambushed its prey, rather than chasing it for long distances. It was just too heavy to run flat out for long. It was a sprinter, not a miler.
Just recently, an incredible fossil find has been uncovered. It was found in 2006, but lay encased in the surrounding rock for years. It shows a juvenile Tyrannosaurus seemingly locked in battle with a young Triceratops. However, scientists aren’t sure yet that they were fighting each other. Some of the Tyrannosaurus’ teeth are broken, and some tyrannosaur teeth are in the Triceratops’ bones and body cavity, but they don’t know yet if those teeth belonged to this Tyrannosaurus. If they do, they could have gotten there in a fight, or it could be that the T-Rex found a dead Triceratops and took a bite. The Tyrannosaurus’ skull is cracked, and one finger is broken. But if the two creatures were killed by a mudslide, the impact of the mud and the debris it carried might have caused those injuries. However, it is also reasonable to think that those injuries could have happened in a fight. Even though Tyrannosaurus likely was a hunter, it probably wouldn’t have turned down a meal that was already killed.
Another area of debate is why Tyrannosaurus had such small arms. They are so short T-rex couldn’t even reach its mouth with them. Some scientists argue that they are short because the dinosaur didn’t need them. With such a powerful bite, it didn’t need to fight with claws. And with so much space in its body needed for powerful neck muscles, there wasn’t much room for arm muscles. Others argue that the arm muscles were strong enough to hold struggling prey, so they were useful for something.
There are many competitors today for the title “King of the Dinosaurs.” Giganotosaurus was shaped much like Tyrannosaurus and was about eight feet longer. Spinosaurus was thinner but may have been more than 50 feet long. But size isn’t everything. Tyrannosaurus had a larger brain, which gave it exceptional sight and smell. And don’t forget that bite force. No other animal, living or extinct, has ever had a more powerful bite. For many, that means T-rex can keep its crown.
Dinosaur Lady 