Tyrannosaurus Rex

Tyrannosaurus rex was a large theropod dinosaur. The animal was a carnivore (meat-eater), and lived in North America and Asia during late Cretaceous period, about 67 to 65 million years ago. It was one of the last dinosaurs, and probably went extinct during the the Cretaecous-Tertiary mass extinction.

An average Tyrannosaurus was about about 39 feet (11.9 metres) long, up to 20 feet (6.1 metres) tall, and weighed around 7 tons.

- The largest known Tyrannosaurus fossil specimen, yet found, is 42 feet (12.8 metres) long, nicknamed "Sue", and exhibited at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.

- The first Tyrannosaurus ever found, was found by Barnum Brown in 1902 in Montana.

Until the mid-1990s, it was generally thought that Tyrannosaurus was the largest land predator ever. Then, scientists discovered Gigantosaurus which lived was a 45 feet (13.8 metre) long carnivore that lived in Argentina about 100 million years ago. New research, first published in 2006, now suggests that Spinosaurus may have been even larger still: upto 51 feet (17 metres) long.

Since the 1960s, some scientists have argued that Tyrannosaurus was not a fearsome predator, but a slow-moving scavenger, that fed on carcasses killed by other carnivores. However, other scientists argue that the possibility of binocular vision (Tyrannosaurus rex has two forward facing eyes), and the relatively large areas of the brain associated with sight and smell, suggest it must have been an active predator.

The name Tyrannosaurus rex was chosen by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1905, and like most scientific names of animals is derived from Ancient Greek. "Tyrannosaurus" means "tyrant lizard", "rex" means "king", and hence in combination "Tyrannosaurus rex" means "tyrant king lizard".

By S. Tanna. Tyrannosaurus rex was first published at http://www.dinosaurjungle.com/dinosaur_species_tyrannosaurus_rex.php - Visit this link for pictures, videos, books, posters, toys and a lot more information about dinosaurs!