The biggest and most complete male T-Rex ever found

9 responses to “The biggest and most complete male T-Rex ever found”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Jan 9, 2014 at 3:33 am

   other side
   

   One of the two huge boxes I disassembled
   

   Lower jaw in the crate…
   

   Front view… imagine this looking down at you from a 12-foot height…
   

   From the rear
   

   And at rest in its alcove at work…
   

   and a fine complement to the 4" petrified Jurassic dinosaur bone marrow sphere
   

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2. 

   Lars Plougmann

   Jan 9, 2014 at 5:02 am

   Amazing. Wonderful piece.

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3. 

   jurvetson

   Jan 9, 2014 at 5:30 am

   and my, what a bite…

   Using "computer models to simulate T. rex’s bite, the result was ‘quite surprising,’ a maximum bite force of almost 12,800 pounds, about the equiva­lent of an adult T. rex’s body weight slamming down on its prey. That would make T. rex the hardest-biting terrestrial animal ever known." — Smithsonian

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4. 

   gsikich1

   Jan 9, 2014 at 12:31 pm

   Nice sequence – a very rare event – perhaps a "Black Swan"?

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5. 

   jurvetson

   Jan 9, 2014 at 11:37 pm

   Meanwhile, looking closer, here is the bite hole in the back of the head:
   

   and snorting the B612 mug…. "Don’t be a Dinosaur"
   

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6. 

   gsikich1

   Jan 12, 2014 at 12:42 am

   Nice bite mark – it would be interesting to know what happened

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7. 

   jurvetson

   Jan 12, 2014 at 5:21 pm

   From Black Hills Institute:

   "After studying T. rex specimens found together, we believe that STAN lived his life in a family group. Hatching from an egg (like a modern bird), STAN would have been cared for by his parents, who taught him and his siblings to hunt. Eventually, STAN left the family group and found his own mate, a female 30% heavier than himself and with whom he probably spent the rest of his life. STAN and his mate fought many battles during their lifetimes – some with other T. rex! For example, each attack to bring down a prey animal not only afforded the opportunity to dine, but also the possibility of injury, and competition. STAN’s skeleton, along with those of other rex specimens, shows the scars of ancient battles. By studying these "pathologies" in the bones, we surmise that rex scuffled for territory, fought over food, and engaged in other behaviors similar to today’s carnivores.

   STAN’s pathologies include several broken and healed ribs, with one scar the same size and shape as a T. rex tooth. STAN has also suffered a broken neck. In the process of healing, two vertebrae fused together and a third became immobilized by extra bone growth (apparently, his spinal cord was not severed, or he would not have lived to heal). His cheeks also show healed injuries, but probably the most chilling is a healed injury on the back of the brain case. Through the back of the skull, we found a circular hole more than one inch in diameter – into which a T. rex tooth fits nicely. The hole ends at a spot where a large chunk of bone (two by five inches) actually broke away! Amazingly, STAN lived through this incredible injury, because a thin layer of bone sealed the broken surface.

   Whatever the immediate effect of these injuries, STAN lived through them to fight another day. We are not sure what finally killed him. Perhaps it was disease or old age. At any rate, his female companion finally had to leave STAN on the sand bar of a stream flowing southeastward to the sea. As STAN’s carcass rotted in the sun, scavengers pulled apart much of the skeleton and skull. Spring floods eventually covered the bones, which remained buried for sixty-five million years."

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8. 

   gsikich1

   Jan 13, 2014 at 3:22 am

   Perhaps STAN ran into SUE? http://www.flickr.com/photos/26274943@N02/11921163854/

   http://www.flickr.com/photos/26274943@N02/11928561153/

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9. 

   RRNeal

   Jan 31, 2014 at 3:51 pm

   Absolutely fantastic

   Reply