Lets learn about dinosaurs - Tyrannosaurus Rex - Random facts for little kids
For the next few days we will be learning about different types of dinosaurs and today we will start with one of the big ones. The name comes from the Latin words that mean 'king; and 'tyrant lizard'. These dinosaurs are usually spoken about as the T-Rex.
These dinosaurs were found in the area that is North America today. It walked on two legs and balanced itself with its big, long tail - this tail contained about 40 vertebrae (bones). The T-Rex could grow to be 13 m long en 4 m high up to its hip and could weigh up to 7 tonnes. (That is as much as 7 truck... they were huge.) The head alone was about 1.5 meters long.
The largest tooth found of a meat eating dinosaur was that of a T-Rex and it was 30 cm with the root included.
T-Rex are carnivorous, which means it ate meat. Some scientist believe that the T-Rex did not catch its own prey, but they were scavengers. Others believe that they were great hunters and their eyes in the front of their heads, gave them an advantage to have better depth perception. Even though the front legs are very short, they have powerful claws that could hold the prey.
Tyrannosaurus Rex lived in the late Cretaceous Period, around 66 million years ago.
In 1997 the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago purchased an 85% complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil skeleton (nicknamed 'Sue; after its discoverer Sue Hendrickson) for 7.6 million US dollars, making it the most expensive dinosaur skeleton to date.
- When and where were Sue discovered?
- Why was the T-Rex named Sue?
- How big is the T-Rex that they discovered?
- For how much did the museum buy the skeleton for?
- Watch the rest of the video to see how Sue came to live in the museum.
