How It Works-Book Of Dinosaurs

Due to a variet y of fi lms

depicting the T-rex in their

own unique way, an accurate

view of the species has been

clouded. For example, despite

being a prominent star of all

the Jurassic Park fi lms,

T yrannosaurus rex did not

exist in the Jurassic period

(199-145 MYA). In fact, it lived

millions of years later during

the Late Cretaceous (100-65.5

MYA). Further, for decades

T-rex has been depicted as

having green scaly skin.

However, recent evidence

suggests its skin colour was

varied and, during the early

years of its life, it probably

sported insulative feathers.

The T-rex has also been

commonly lauded as the

biggest carnivorous dinosaur

of them all. This isn’t strictly

true, with palaeontological

evidence suggesting the

species Spinosaurus outsized

it by over three metres (9.9

feet) in length. And fi nally,

another myth perpetuated in

Jurassic Park is that the

T yrannosaurus could run at

high speed (ie keep up with a

car), but it could probably only

manage about 40 kilometres

(25 miles) per hour due to its

relatively small strides.

T-rex

mythbuster

© A lamy; Thin k stock

Skull

Tyrannosaurus’s skull was

huge and its snout and

lower jaw were very deep.

The eye sockets faced

forward to a greater

degree than most

dinosaurs, indicating it had

acute binocular vision

We analyse a Tyrannosaurus rex’s skeleton

to see what made it such a deadly predator

Anatomy of the lizard king

Mouth

The T-rex’s mouth was

massive and contained

60 serrated teeth. All

the teeth were different

sizes, with some up to

20cm (7.9in) long

Body cavity

The Tyrannosaurus rex had

an incredibly heavy body

structure and a wide body

cavity. To improve mobility,

some of the dinosaur’s

vertebrae had holes –

helping to reduce weight

Tail

Crucial for maintaining balance –

especially as modern evidence

suggests T-rex had a near-horizontal

spinal position – the dinosaur’s large

tail was essential for chasing prey

Hind legs

The large hind legs connected

to the body via a lizard-style hip

arrangement. The size of the legs

granted the dinosaur excellent

pushing power, though due to its

small strides (compared to other

species) it couldn’t run very fast

Forelimbs

Tyrannosaurus had incredibly short

forelimbs with hands boasting two full-sized

fi ngers and a single smaller one. The two

larger fi ngers were equipped with

razor-sharp, sickle-shaped claws

DID YOU KNOW? (^) Tyrannosaurus rex was totally wiped out in the Cretaceous-Palaeogene extinction event