The Tyrannosaurus rex was a gargantuan dinosaur that roamed the Earth 66 million years ago.
With a lifespan of around 30 years, these carnivorous beasts ate any meat they could sink their teeth into from the famous Triceratops to the heavily armoured Ankylosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus needed a hefty daily diet of around 40,000 calories, which is around 140kg of meat!
Although these fearsome creatures housed 12 inch teeth and were around 14 feet tall, modern research suggests that most humans could have outrun a T. Rex. They could reach speeds of around 12mph but moved at more of a speedy walk than a run. An average human running for their life runs at around 12mph, so you might have just about been able to escape the horror of the T. Rex’s bone-crushing jaws…
As science develops, we can uncover more about this ancient beast. In recent years, scientists have debated whether the T. Rex had feathers. Some palaeontologists believe that these giants had scaly “lips” that thinly covered their teeth.
Whatever their appearance, the T. Rex were certainly apex predators and acted as a keystone species, regulating populations, and eradicating the weak and sick.
THE LATE CRETACEOUS
The Tyrannosaurus rex lived in the Late Cretaceous period, an era that spanned roughly 34 million years between 100.5 million years ago and 66 million years ago. The world was a very different place at that point.
Sea levels were around 250 meters than they are now, and the climate was humid and warm. The Earth was a greenhouse world characterised by high concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide and extreme temperatures. Scientists have found that there was little to no ice at the north pole, and there is evidence of swampy rainforests at the south pole.
The Late Cretaceous era ended with the impact of an asteroid that measured around 6 miles in diameter. Landing just off the coast of Mexico near Chicxulub, this asteroid produced as much explosive energy as 100 teratons of TNT, 4.5 billion times the explosive power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. The destructive force and consequent mega earthquakes, tsunamis and the thick blanket of ash and debris that blocked out the light of the sun, wiped out around 75% of Earth’s species, including the Tyrannosaurus rex. Any dinosaurs that did survive have evolved from theropoda (characterised by their hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb) into the birds that fill our skies today.
