Tyrannosaurus Rex

__TOC__Tyrannosaurus Rex (tye-RAN-oh-SAWR-us-recks) is one of the most well-known of all dinosaurs. It is no longer considered the largest of the theropods. Tyrannosaurus was the last and largest of the Tyrannosaur family, or tyrant dinosaurs. 
Like other tyrannosaurids, Tyrannosaurus had very short arms with only two fingers. Although these were probably nearly useless while hunting, its jaws were not: Tyrannosaurus has an enormous skull armed with teeth the size of bananas. Unlike the teeth of most theropods, the teeth of tyrannosaurids are very thick and capable of crushing bones. The skull and neck bones show that T. rex had the largest neck muscles of any meat-eating dinosaur. It probably used its strong neck to twist and pull off big chunks of meat that it grasped with its jaws. Tyrannosaurus could bite with extremely strong force - one fossilized skeleton shows that it crushed and swallowed the bones of a smaller plant-eating dinosaur.
 The T-Rexes of New Eden are much different than the ones created by InGen as they possess feathers due to them having survived the K-T Event as opposed to being genetically created animals.
==History==
Arrival on the Islands
The Trek
==Characteristics==
===Description and Statistics===
Tyrannosaurus Rex is described as being capable of running as fast as 32 mph by Ian Malcom, Ellie Sattler, and Robert Muldoon witnessed a T-Rex named Rexy chasing them both on a Jeep on Isla Nublar. As far as size goes, of the five Tyrannosaurs to prominently appear in the story, the adult female known as the Matriarch seen was 40 feet long and 16 feet tall, making her one of largest predators to appear in the Dragon’s Tail. The sub-adult male to face against the Spinosaurus was listed at 37 feet long and only about 10 feet tall at the hip (inaccurately measured at 14.5ft at the top of the skull, which is not a standard form measurement). The infant to appear during the Pillaging appeared to be no more than 3 feet tall and just 6 feet long. 
They display some sexual dimorphism. Males have more prominent lacrimal ridges than females. Males also have a tendency to have visible facial scaring (possibly due to battles over territory with other T. rex and carnivores or mates). Females are also brown in color than males, and somewhat larger. Males are slightly smaller than females, and are a molted green in color. They also have a large throat pouch that females seem to lack. Males are typically green, while females are typically molted brown. 
===Eyesight Debate
===
Dr. Alan Grant stated that the sight of the Tyrannosaurus Rex is based on movement, so if you don't move the animal won't see you. Alan Grant uses this knowledge to escape from the T-Rex from their first encounter. 
But, as stated by Dr. Richard Levine, this is very unlikely because many animals (including humans) freeze or play dead when they are scared. If the T-Rex wasn't able to see non-moving creatures, it would miss most of its prey. Richard Levine explains the previous instances in which people escaped from the T-Rex by freezing with: "the only reason it would not eat you is if it was not hungry." 
Supporting Dr. Alan Grant's theory is that the T-Rex may not be able to see you, so to counteract this, the T-Rex gives a loud roar to scare its prey into revealing their position by running away. The T-Rex may then make the kill. Supporting Levine's theory, Rexy, when she escapes from her paddock, eats Donald Gennaro which may have satisfied her hunger. This may be why, instead of Rexy eating Grant as well as Lex and Tim Hammond, she only gave a roar to scare him out of her territory. This way the threat to her territory was eliminated. 
It is stated that the paleontologist Dr. John Roxton wrote an article in which he stated that the brain of the T-Rex was very similar to that of frogs. Therefore, Dr. Roxton concluded that T-Rex’s sight was based on movement. Alan Grant and also the biologist George Baselton had no expertise in brain anatomy and accepted the conclusions of the article. 
It is possible that since it was a predator with binocular vision, Tyrannosaurus had trouble seeing stationary prey in the dark, though this is a dubious theory, and one that Dr.Grant suggested should be applied (the 'don't move' tactic) in their first encounter when they stumbled upon a Tyrannosaurus - in broad daylight. Rexy killed Gennaro because he while he was still in one place, he was visibly shaking and moving his arms, therefore revealing his position to the T-Rex. Some parts of Gennaro were found by Ellie Sattler and Robert Muldoon when Malcolm was discovered. Later on, Yahari’s group run into a T-Rex devouring its prey. The T-Rex then gives a roar scaring the party into running away.  It then chases the group. This ironically can support either side of the debate. The T-Rex may have not been able to see the group so it scared them into running so he could find them or he may have not been hungry from eating its prey, so it just wanted to scare the group away by roaring and chasing them away. Supporting this is the fact that in the story, the Tyrannosaurus chases a jeep away from her territory then ceases the pursuit despite the fact that she could have easily destroyed the jeep. 
===Hunting===
Tyrannosaurs were depicted as apex predators and as such spent a lot of time following game trails. They seemed to prefer to ambush prey animals, and it was once thought that this was possibly because of their motion sensitive eyesight, which has since been disproved. It was once theorized that most prey animals freeze when afraid because the Tyrannosaurus supposedly lacked the ability to see stationary prey. In actuality, Tyrannosaurus have excellent binocular vision.  The Tyrannosaurus are not random killers, however, and are less likely to attack when full.
===Parenting===
In the story, Tyrannosaurus is shown as being a protective parent. Tyrannosaurus are shown to pair off during mating, and both parents will remain with their offspring during its growth, exhibiting very powerful parenting and protective instincts, going to great lengths to ensure an infant's safety. Tyrannosaurus are territorial by nature, and will attempt to drive away anything that might be deemed dangerous, whether animate or not. They are known to be efficient parents, with both male and female keeping close guard over infants and bringing them food for a considerable matter of months. They will ferociously defend their offspring during this stage from predators and humans, and will even travel far outside their native territories to find them if they get lost. Like most predators, they presumably teach their young how to hunt once the time comes. 
While no T-Rex nest has yet been found in the real world, the living relatives of Tyrannosaurus (birds and crocodilians) guard their nests and take care of their babies as what was seen on Isla Sorna. Similarly, there is evidence from nests of smaller meat-eaters and from various plant-eaters that many dinosaurs were good parents. So the simplest explanation at present is that, fearsome though it may have been, Tyrannosaurus probably looked after its eggs and young
== Known Tyrannosaurs ==
* Rexy (A genetically engineered T-Rex created by InGen currently living on Isla Nublar)
* The Matriarch (The largest T-Rex in the Dragon's Tail)
Category:Predators
Category:Antagonist Dinos
Category:Extinct Animals and Reptiles