Tyrannosaurus

About 12 to 13 metres (40 to 43 feet) long, 3.7 to 4 metres (12 to 13 feet) tall at the hip, and weighed up to 8.8 tonnes (9.7 tons).13

It was a meat-eater that hunted large dinosaurs like Edmontosaurus and Triceratops, and probably also scavenged. Its powerful jaws and serrated teeth could crush bone.43

Up to about 24 km/h (15 mph), about as fast as a grown-up riding a bike. T. rex was too heavy to really run like a horse, so most scientists think it moved with a big, fast power walk. That was still fast enough to catch other large dinosaurs.43

Nobody knows for sure. One idea is that as its head grew bigger, the arms got shorter to keep the dinosaur balanced. They were still very strong and had two claws.43

It lived about 69 to 66 million years ago, at the very end of the Cretaceous Period, just before the dinosaurs went extinct.14

It lived in western North America, on an island continent called Laramidia. Fossils have been found in the United States (like Montana and Wyoming) and Canada.14

It was one of the largest land predators ever, but some other dinosaurs like Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus were similar in size. T. rex was the biggest predator in its own time and place.41

Some scientists think young T. rex may have had a light covering of feathers, but adults probably had mostly scaly skin. No direct fossil feathers have been found on T. rex.1

It had the most powerful bite of any land animal ever, with a force of 35,000 to 57,000 newtons in its back teeth. That is a very strong bite.1

Tyrannosaurus means 'tyrant lizard' in Greek, and rex means 'king' in Latin. So the full name means 'King of the Tyrant Lizards.'43