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University of Wyoming

TYRANNOSAURUS REX

KING OF THE TYRANT LIZARDS"

Geologic Time: 70 Million years ago (Late Cretaceous)

Rock unit: Lance Formation

Adult Length: 50 ft. (15 m)

Adult Height: 20 ft. (6 m)

Adult Weight: 7 tons (14,000 lb.)

Diet: Meat

Habitat: Lowland floodplains
 

Characteristics: Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs. It was most likely an active hunter, but may have scavenged for food as well. T. rex was one of the last dinosaurs to live.

Current research has shown that Tyrannosaurus rex should be portrayed as a sleek, active carnivore, unlike older restorations that show it as a bulky tail-dragger. We now believe that its massive tail was held off the ground and served as a counterbalance as the animal ran. Surprisingly, this pose had been proposed decades earlier when the skeleton of the first T. rex (called Dynamosaurus imperiosus) was mounted in the British Museum (Natural History) in London.

One of the most popular dinosaurs, T. rex has been the star of movies ranging from "The Lost World" (1925) to "Jurassic Park" (1993) and "Jurassic Park: Lost World" (1996).

 

Tyrannosaurus rex headT-Rex head greets visitors

A sharp-toothed head of a Tyrannosaurus rex greets unwary visitors to the University of Wyoming Geological Museum. The new T-rex display is a fiberglass reconstruction of what the fearsome carnivorous dinosaur that roamed Wyoming 70 million years looked like, says Brent Breithaupt, UW Geological Museum director.

"This is a fleshed out version of a skull similar to one we also have on display in the museum." Breithaupt says. "Anyone who has seen the movies 'Jurassic Park' and 'Lost World' will find a familiar face at the museum. It gives a better idea of what one of the world's largest land carnivores looked like."

Designed by artist Dave Thomas of Albuquerque, N.M., the display is among the museum's continuing effort to make visitors' experiences more realistic.

"We want visitors to understand the skeletons in the museum are from living, breathing, snarling animals that lived right here in Wyoming," Breithaupt says. "It enhances the educational visits by students to the museum."

Adjacent to the new display is a skull cast of Tyrannosaurus rex. It is 55 inches high and 59 inches long and shows 58 teeth. The first T-rex skeleton ever discovered was found in northeastern Wyoming, and now resides at the British Museum of Natural History in London. The story of this 1900 Wyoming discovery is also told in the UW museum.

Another T-rex display can be found standing guard outside the museum.

S. H. Knight's T. Rex

The life-sized statue of Tyrannosaurus rex that guards the entrance to the Geology Museum was created by renowned Wyoming geologist Samuel Howell Knight. The statue is 18.5 ft (5.8 m) high, 47 ft. (18 m) long, and weighs 1.5 tons. At the time of its unveiling in 1964 the copper-and-steel statue was the only full-scale dinosaur model done in metal.

Knight spent two years and over 4,000 hours creating this impressive restoration. He did all the welding, and hand-hammered the copper plates to create a texture like the dinosaur's skin.

Among Knight's other works are the bas-relief Stegosaurus and Triceratops panels that front the museum and the reconstructed Apatosaurus ("Brontosaurus") skeleton that is the museum's centerpiece.

For more information about the UW Geological Museum, call (307) 766-4218. The museum is open weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and weekends from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., except for holidays. Admission is free.

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