By: Melissa Zhao
In a new research project studying dinosaur fossils, scientists set out to explore an important question shrouded with mystery: exactly how big could the scary, gigantic, carnivorous Tyrannosaurus Rex get? This dinosaur that roamed the earth millions of years ago keeps on defying the known limits of just how large and ferocious it was in its time–and it’s done it again.
Researchers from the Canadian Museum of Nature published a report on Wednesday, July 24, in which they estimated that the largest T. Rex may have reached up to 33,000 pounds. That is heavier than the average school bus which weighs about 24,000 pounds. So far, the heftiest T. Rex on record is a specimen nicknamed Scotty, and weighed 19, 555 pounds when it was alive.
Based on the recent study in which they collected all the fossils that have been found so far and examined them extremely closely, the largest T. Rex is about 70% heavier than Scotty, which is almost double his size. To reach this new, almost unbelievable conclusion, the scientists had to examine all the fossils and put together the information from the shapes, size, and ruts in the fossil, which revealed that almost 2.5 billion T. Rex once roamed the earth, eating, fighting, and doing what every else dinosaur did.
However, from the weighty number of 2.5 billion, only 32 adult fossils have been found, giving scientists and researchers a limit to the information they can extract from the fossils. If they had more fossils, they could find more about what the scientists did back in their time and find more precise information about the size of the T. Rexs. However, with so few fossils, they can only examine them as closely as possible and put together their best guess using what they have.
Scientists are striving to hunt down more fossils and use them to put together the intricate puzzle of how life was connected millions of years ago. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is continuing to prove that, perhaps, its size and power had no limit in the time of the dinosaurs.
Article Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/cxw21gejr9jo
Image Credit by Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz