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Tyrannosaurus rex was a meat-eater about 40 feet (12.4 m) long, about 15-20 feet (4.6-6 m) tall, and about 5-7 tons in weight. T. rex probably had about 200 bones, roughly the same as us (no one knows exactly how many it had, since no complete T. rex skeletons have been found). About a dozen T. rex skeletons have been found.
SKULL AND JAWS
T. rex's jaws were up to 4 feet (1.2 m) long and had 50 to 60 thick, conical, bone-crunching teeth that were up to 9 inches (23 cm) long.
T. rex dung has been found containing crushed bone - its teeth were capable of inflicting an enormous amount of damage on other creatures. This ability to crush bones and obtain the nutrition contained within (the marrow) would have allowed T. rex to be an efficient scavenger, perhaps in addition to actively hunting.
T. rex, like the other dinosaurs, was a diapsid (as are all reptiles except turtles). Diapsids are animals that have two extra holes in the sides of their skulls.
LEGS
Like all other dinosaurs, T. rex walked on its toes; the scientific term for this is digitigrade. Other animals that are digitigrade include dogs, cat, and chickens. There is a pad of tissue on the back of the feet on these animals that acts like a shock absorber. People, bears, and crocodiles walk differently; they are plantigrade (flat-footed).
T. rex had three clawed toes on each foot (pes) and one dew claw (or hallux, a very small, virtually useless toe). Its legs were very strong and powerful.
SHOULDERS AND ARMS
T. rex had tiny arms in comparison with the rest of its body. The upper part of the arm was imbedded in its body, rendering the arms almost useless and with a very limited range of motion. T rex's arms couldn't even reach its mouth!
T. rex had two clawed fingers on each hand (manus).
PELVIS
T. rex was a saurischian dinosaur, a "lizard-hipped" dinosaur. This type of dinosaur had a hip structure in which the pubis bone pointed forwards and downwards (unlike the ornithischian dinosaurs in which the pubis pointed backwards and downwards).
Information Sheets About Dinosaurs (and Other Prehistoric Creatures) |
Just click on an animal's name to go to that information sheet. If the dinosaur you're interested in isn't here, check the Dinosaur Dictionary or the list of Dinosaur Genera. Names with an asterisk (*) were not dinosaurs.
How to write a great dinosaur report.
For dinosaur printouts, click here.For brief dinosaur fact sheets, click here.
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