Tyrannosaurs get a father figure
Fossil hunters find the first Jurassic specimen of this fearsome family.
Ask any dinner-party palaeontologist and they'll tell you that, despite its star turn in Jurassic Park, Tyrannosaurus rex didn't live in the Jurassic period. But now a team in China has found a tyrannousaur that did, and it gives us valuable clues about the rise of this clan of prehistoric predators.
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Comments
I think this is pretty cool, but I have a question-- Why did the artist who made the rendering give it fur?
Are they thinking that the presence of the nasal crest makes it so similar to a bird that they thought that it would have something that would eventually evolve into feathers?
Either way, I find this very interesting and would like to see more images from the find and a construction of the skeleton.
Posted by: Dennis West | February 8, 2006 08:56 PM
If this new find is a tyrannosaur, and Fox stated the illustration was drawn by someone who had seen the bones, why does it have three digits?
Posted by: Peter Stitt | February 9, 2006 03:33 AM
heyy i think this was a great discovery i want to be an archeologist when i gorw up. this inspires me even more. ive been studying for 6 years now to become the best i can. this discovery will now change the way i think of the t- rex. this smaller creature must have been more ferocios because genetics doesn't always give as much as the parant had. so now i think of just how ferocios is the t0rex compared to his parents. well more studying for me. by the way im only 11. cya
Posted by: chris | February 9, 2006 02:12 PM
I would like to know if it hunted in packs or alone? I'd also be interested in knowing if it was more of a scavenger or a true hunter and if all dinosaurs were smaller during this time period.
Posted by: Alex Munro | February 10, 2006 02:55 AM