Tyrannosaurus rex Skull on Display at the Saint George Dinosaur Discovery Site
J.A.R. - Just Another Rex :-)
#Tyrannosaurus rex, “Tyrant Lizard King” named by Osborn in 1905, ruled the Late Cretaceous of western North America 68 to 66 mya. It took a massive missile to end its reign.
Had the giant space rock not hit Earth, would it still be the apex predator? Were any subsequent climatic events enough to wipe it out? Sure the climate changed here and there, I suspect it and its prey would have migrated south.
With #dinosaurs dominating their niches, #mammals never get a shot, we never arrive, and this cool Alex Chamberlain-built skull never gets built. Life turned on a nickel-ladened rock :-).
Whether you like your T. rex as a predator, scavenger, or both (I’m in the both camp) it is easy to see how it grabbed the world’s attention and never let it go. Despite numerous challengers over the years, there is only one King of the Lizards. Yes #carcharodontosaurs have big heads and cool bodies, but they go extinct when #tyrannosaurs show up. All #megatheropods bow when head-to-head to all-conquering #tyrannossurids.
Assuming 66 more million years of unimpeded success, I presume they obtain the heaviest possible weights a biped can achieve. There has to be a mathematical upper echelon for two-legged weight.
Over that much time do the arms “disappear”? How much bigger would the head get? It would continue to refine its awesomeness as its prey continued to grow to try and stay alive.
Perhaps #sauropods, in the form of supergiant #Alamosaurus, pose the first formidable foe in ages, as they would have continued growing in size to reach max terrestrial vertebrate weight. Not from predator selective pressures but rather reproductive, as sauropods seem to sexually select on size.
The continents end up in the same place, which means South American megatheropods meet North America’s finest via the Central American land bridge. The Great American Biotic Interchange allows both faunas to meet. How exciting that would be!
This skull is on display at the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm in Utah. Absolutely a great place to stop by and see some of the most impressive tracks in the world, plus some neat skeletons.
#FossilCrates