TYRANNOSAUR. The Tyrant King.
It was longer than a bus, weighed more than 3.6 tones,
and had teeth up to 30 centimetres long. The tyrannosaur may have died out 65
million years ago, but it is still one of the largest meat-eating land animals
that ever lived. It's no wonder that the first scientist who discovered this
frightening creature's bones called it Tyrannosaurus rex: 'tyrant lizard king'.
Dinosaurs were not true lizards. However, when
scientists first discovered tyrannosaur fossils, they did believe that such a
dangerous-looking animal would have been a powerful and cruel bully amongst the
dinosaurs. The tyrannosaur's jagged teeth and huge jaws make it clear that the
tyrannosaur was a powerful carnivore, or meat eater.
Tyrannosaurs lived mainly in what is now North America
and Asia. The creature was about 12 meters long from its head to its thick and
heavy tail. They tyrannosaur probably stooped forward, with the big tail
balancing its weight when it walked.
The tyrannosaur had large, powerful rear legs but
small front arms. These forearms wouldn't even have been able to reach its
mouth. So the tyrannosaur probably planted its clawed rear feet on a dead
animal, bit hard, and ripped the flesh away from the carcass.
The tyrannosaur is one of the most popular of all
dinosaurs, thanks to films and books. But scientists still don't know a lot
about the beast. Did it hunt by sight or by smell? Was tyrannosaur a hunter at
all or did it just eat the dead animals it found? Was it a fast runner?
With so many questions, we're still getting
tyrannosaur - but from a safe distance!
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