The Tyrannosaurus Rex

This is my favourite among with the Raptor. It was a large, bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur of the family Tyranosaidae, of the latter part of the Mesozodic period. About 14 meters or 45 feet long, about 5-7 meters or 19-22 feet tall, weighing more than 4 metric tonns, Tyranosaurus Rex was equipped for preying on the large herbivorois dinosaurs of the time, about 70 million years ago. The females where larger than the males, wich explains the difference in the average size. Its long skull , with a length of 1,5 meters (about 6 feet), was equipped with powerful jaws i wich were set sharp, doubly serrated teeth, some of which were 16 centimeters or 6 inches long, and had a diameter of 2,5 cm(about 1 inch).


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The bite of a T-Rex had a strength of 1300 kilos (ca 2880 pounds)!!! That is ten times the bite of a Greath White! The mouth could be opened 60 to 80 centimeters (24-32 inches) and it would normally eat 25 to 35 kilos (55- 70 pounds) of meat, or even 1/4 cow in one bite.



They would swollow the prey with skin and bones without chewing, and leave to tiny organismes to do the work. The tiny forelimbs, seemingly out of proportion to the rest of the animal's massive body, each bore two sharp claws and was able to carry nearly 500 pounds(225 kilos)! The powerful hind limbs each where armed with three foreward- pointing claws, well suited for tearing flesh, and a fourth bacward- pointing claw, and had powerful muscles that made the Rex able to hold a speed of about 15 km per hour (25 miles pr hour). Fossils that were found in North- America and Mongolia in stratea of Upper Cretaceous age indicate that the species came into beeing and became extinct in the relatively short space of a few million years.

There have been put some doubt into weither Rex was able to hunt at all, or was a scavenger, but they have now proved that traces of the muscles on the bones show that Rex had muscles that made it able to move quite fast for its size. Tho it was one of the slowest carnivores, it could still move faster than most herbivores of some size, and it could jump onto the prey, hanging onto the body with its forelimbs and bite large chuncs of flesh of the body. This would lead to bloodloss, and sooner or later the prey had to lose strength, and would fall to the ground. This again made the Rex able to hold the pray down with its enormously powerful hindlegs to finish off the prey.

We now know that T-Rex may have hunted in packs up to as much as 10-20 animals, mostly family, and that they also lived together in familigroups, taking care of their offspring, teaching them huntingskills and how to survive. Actually, Rex-mother was so caring for her eggs, that she would not leave her nest at all during the waiting for the offspring to hatch, but lay hidden near by to protect them. During the time it would take for the eggs to hatch, she would not eat or drink (unless someone stupid tried to close upt to the nest and was killed by her), nor even walk around, but she would stay close all the time, not sleeping, to guard her eggs.

They do believe that the male Rex would help her protect the eggs, bringing her food and even water in his own stomac, which he would throw up to her, making sure she could keep her strength. The Female Rex is believed to be the main hunter, since the females mostly grew larger than the males, and became stronger and faster. The male was mostly put to babysit, be a guard and mate, or to help catch a large prey. The males was NOT helpless, do not think that, but the female rev up to 3-5 meters taller than the males, since she was the one guarding the eggs most of the time. All of this is guessing, of course..