Tyrannosaurus

Tyrannosaurus rex
Scientific classification
Kingdom Information
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum Information
Phylum	Chordata
Class Information
Class	Sauropsida
Order Information
Superorder	Dinosauria
Order	Saurischia
Sub-order	Theropoda
Family Information
Superfamily	Tyrannosauroidea
Family	Tyrannosauridae
Sub-family	Tyrannosaurinae
Genus Information
Genus	Tyrannosaurus
Species Information
Species	T. rex
Population statistics

Tyrannosaurus rex (Greek: τυραννος σαυρος, "tyrant lizard"; and Latin: rex, "king"), or T-rex, a species of dinosaur known from several specimens found in North America. One of the largest carnivorous animals to have walked the earth, Tyrannosaurus rex has, since its late-19th century discovery, become the most famous as well, the subject of serious science as well as a perennial character in books, film, and television.

Description

T-rex had very small forelimbs, large hind legs and a long tail. It is one of the largest land carnivores to have ever walked the earth, measuring about 13 meters long and 5 meters high.

Young Earth Creationists believe that they became extinct sometime since the Great Flood, dated to approximately 4,500 years ago.

Evolutionary scientists believe that the T-rex lived at the end of the Cretaceous period, dated to approximately 65 million years ago, and that modern birds are the descendants of dinosaurs such as T-rex.

Fossils

The earliest find of a Tyrannosaurus rex occurred in 1892. In 1905, after additional discoveries of fossils, the president of the American Museum for Natural History named the dinosaur. Since then, more than 30 specimens have been found.

In 1990, amateur paleontologist Susan Hendrickson discovered the most complete Tyrannosaurus fossil yet. The fossil, named Sue, is also one of the largest Tyrannosaurus specimens discovered.

Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer has discovered unfossilized soft tissue in T-rex skeletons. This was unexpected as tissue was not known to stay unfossilized for 65 million years. Evolutionists saw this as evidence that tissue can last that long, whilst creationists saw it as evidence that the fossils were not that old.

Diet

T-rex had forward-facing eyes, which gave it binocular vision. Binocular vision is usually present in carnivores, as it gives them better depth perception and helps them catch their prey, therefore it is very likely that Tyrannosaurus was a carnivore. Young earth creationists believe that the Tyrannosaurus, along with all other carnivores, was herbivorous in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, but afterwards it adapted to be carnivorous.

Some have suggested that T-rex was exclusively a scavenger. This may be partially true, since most carnivores today will happily scavenge available meat. However, it probably was not an exclusive scavenger, as most meat-eaters must also hunt in order to survive. T-rex's jaws were also quite adaptive to grabbing live prey, and probably used them in the same way most carnivores do: bit the throat to either crush the larynx and thus kill by suffocation or through blood loss. Also, the T-rex's large body probably required a great amount of food and therefore scavenging probably wouldn't be sufficient to support its high metabolism.