Species Profile - Tyrannosaurus Rex



Tyrannosaurus Evolution

1993

DB-JW

DB-JP Classification Diet Carnivore Carnivore Era Late Cretaceous Family Tyrannosauridae Dig Sites Frenchman Formation

Hell Creek Formation

Lance Formation 🔊 Audio Size Height Length Weight 5.89 m

(19.3 feet) 13.50 m

(44.3 feet) 16,326 kg

(18.0 tons) Enclosure Feeder Type Grassland Forest Wetland 12,720 m² 772 m² 0 m² Social Comfort Threshold Social Group Ideal Population 85% Solitary 0-15 Traits Attack 109 Defence 30 Lifespan 66 Resilience 36 Rating 234

Ah, yes. The 'tyrant lizard'. The Tyrannosaurus rex. Favorite of early century fiction writers and adolescent children everywhere. And why? Because it represents everything we fear about the past. It's what we believe that we've conquered, even though it ceased to exist before humanity had reached the proto-ape stage. And that was true. Until now. Until you.

- Dr. Ian Malcolm

Tyrannosaurus, often referred to as Tyrannosaurus rex or simply T. rex, is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that originated from Late Cretaceous North America.

Arguably the world's most famous dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus fossils are first unlocked on Isla Tacaño, and can then be excavated from the Frenchman Formation, Hell Creek Formation, and Lance Formation in North America. Acquiring the complete genome of the Tyrannosaurus and the Velociraptor unlocks the Indominus rex.

Additional Tyrannosaurus skins and an alternate model were added to the game with the Return to Jurassic Park expansion pack, based on its appearances in the original Jurassic Park trilogy.

History

Tyrannosaurus was among the first species of dinosaur successfully cloned by InGen, intending to be displayed as an attraction in Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. During the 1993 incident and subsequent abandonment of the park, the Tyrannosaurus escaped from its exhibit where it roamed free on the island for a time. In 1994, InGen sent a recovery team to Isla Nublar, moving the island's Tyrannosaurus to an unknown location prior to its exhibition in Jurassic World many years later.[1]

During the 1997 incident, the InGen team sent to Isla Sorna encountered several Tyrannosaurus. Two of which, a buck and its infant, were captured and shipped to San Diego as the intended main attractions for Jurassic Park: San Diego. In what became known as the San Diego Incident, the buck escaped onto the streets of the city, causing numerous fatalities before being lured back to the San Diego Docks, where it was eventually transported back to Isla Sorna with the infant.[2] During the 2001 Isla Sorna rescue mission, those involved encountered at least one Tyrannosaurus.

Following its opening in 2005 and until 2015, Jurassic World exhibited the Tyrannosaurus from the original Jurassic Park. During the 2015 incident, the park's Tyrannosaurus would be intentionally released by Claire Dearing to combat the rampaging Indominus rex. After the incident, which resulted in the abandonment of Jurassic World, the T. rex became wild on Isla Nublar once more.[1][3] In 2018, with the impending eruption of Mt. Sibo, Nublar's T. rex was captured and transported to the Lockwood manor in California, USA. The T. rex later escaped from the manor into the wilds of Northern California.[4]

Description

A T. rex will always draw attention, but I shouldn't have to remind you how dangerous they can be. The world has never seen a more alpha predator.

- Dr. Kajal Dua

Among the largest theropod dinosaurs of all time, Tyrannosaurus rex is a species of tyrannosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. It lived throughout western North America at the end of the Cretaceous period alongside of other dinosaurs such as the ceratopsians Triceratops and Torosaurus, the hadrosaur Edmontosaurus, the armored Ankylosaurus, the pachycephalosaurs Pachycephalosaurus, Stygimoloch and Dracorex, the smaller theropod Troodon, and the ornithomimid Struthiomimus, making it one of the latest species of non-avian dinosaurs to evolve prior to the great extinction 66 million years ago. The base genome of the Tyrannosaurus is primarily dark brown, though other variants are known to exist.[5]

Behavior

Tyrannosaurus is a powerful carnivorous dinosaur representing one of the pinnacles of the Hammond Foundation's operations in the Muertes Archipelago. A temperamental species in comparison to other dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus do not tolerate variations from their preferred environment, which should ideally consist of a mix between open grassland to roam, and open forests, from which they can ambush their prey. If their enclosure fails to meet these requirements, the T. rex may become stressed and attempt to escape.

Unlike most of the other large carnivores such as Carcharodontosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, and Spinosaurus, Tyrannosaurus is content with solitude and will become stressed when placed in an enclosure with another member of their species. This will result in an often fatal fight for dominance. Similar clashes, often to the death, can occur between similarly-sized carnivores such as Spinosaurus, while heavily armored herbivores such as Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops are more than capable of fighting back.[6]

Paleontology

Tyrannosaurus had a bite force of almost 6,000 kg of pressure, giving it arguably the strongest jaw ever seen amongst terrestrial carnivores with only extremely large crocodilians or marine predators rivaling it. Large individuals could reach lengths of 43 feet and grow to 13 feet tall, with the average still being a respectably huge 40 feet long and 12 feet tall. Its teeth are actually blunt and relied more on the bite force than a serrated edge like other theropods. This was an adaptation to crush bones and bite through body armor, allowing adult Tyrannosaurus to both bring down armored prey such as ankylosaurids and ceratopsians, as well as process a carcass efficiently by crunching bones and tougher tissues to eat.

Curiously this is not true with young Tyrannosaurus who had a much leaner, thin build and narrow, serrated teeth. This suggests the young of the species chased down prey more actively and likely ate different animals than the adults. Of course, alone, they would never attack an adult, but instead, attack juveniles. A family group, however, could attack a sick or an old individual.

Tyrannosaurus was the perfect predator for armored prey even up to equal size to itself. However, their blunter teeth and narrower jaw gape would have made hunting sauropods difficult. In the past, juvenile and adolescent specimens of the genus were mistaken for different species or genera, Nanotyrannus being a notable example as most paleontologists now believe it to be an adolescent Tyrannosaurus rex. A second possible species exists in Mongolia in the form of the almost equally huge Tarbosaurus bataar, which if true would be reclassified as Tyrannosaurus bataar.

Paleontologists suggested a wide range of maximum running speeds for Tyrannosaurus. For a time, given the size of its legs, it was speculated that Tyrannosaurus could run 45 mph (72 km/h). Later from 2002 to 2017, applying Tyrannosaurus physiology to modern reptiles and birds and given its heavy-size, they downsized its top speed between 25-35 mph (40-56 km/h). In 2019, studies officially declared Tyrannosaurus maximum speed at 11 mph (18 km/h). It has been suggested that if an adult Tyrannosaurus even tried running faster than 11 mph, their bones would shatter and break. However, while the adults were slow, it is possible that the juveniles could run at greater speeds.

While skin samples of Tyrannosaurus rex do show the genus having small scales, it is considered likely the species was unique amongst large theropods in that it sported primitive feathers of some sort somewhere on the body or during its lifetime. It wasn't as heavily feathered as early members of its family such as Yutyrannus, so any feathers were likely along the back or when the animal was young and might need extra insulation to regulate its body temperature. For much of the twentieth century, Tyrannosaurus was regarded as a primitive, murderous beast that roamed the jungle as a solitary hunter. However, this concept has since been dropped, as deep lacerations in the skulls of many specimens suggest the animal fought others of its own kind on a regular basis, a common trait of a social species defending territory and young from rivals, and likely hunted in small groups, probably family packs.

Paleoecology

Tyrannosaurus lived in a variety of ecosystems including inland and coastal subtropical, and semi-arid plains. There, it lived alongside large herbivores such as Ankylosaurus and Edmontosaurus, the latter likely being a regular prey item for the active hunter, the hard-headed Pachycephalosaurus, as well as the famous Triceratops. They also coexisted with a sauropod about the size of an Argentinosaurus called Alamosaurus, as well as a large dromaeosaurid called Dakotaraptor.

Available genomes

Fossil icon Dig site Quality Number available Frenchman Formation



1

3

4 Hell Creek Formation





1

3

4

4 Lance Formation

4

4

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