Dinosaur - Tyrannosaurus rex

Carnivores are animals that eat meat and the largest carnivore ever to have lived was the giant dinosaur “Tyrannosaurus rex”. The word Tyrannosaurus means ‘terrible lizard’- a rather fitting description of this fearsome beast. The word rex means king, and king it must have been it roamed what is now North America and eastern Asia, for few animals could have withstood its enormous strength. Standing nearly 6m (20 feet) high and 15m (49 feet) long, this reptile had tiny, almost useless forelegs but immensely powerful jaws armed with rows of 15cm (6 inch) long teeth. Being so heavy – Tyrannosaurus probably weighed about eight tonnes, it is unlikely that it was able to pursue its prey in the way that modern carnivores such as the big cats can. It most probably laid in wait for victims or attacked slow- moving dinosaurs.

Some of the larger museums have skeletons of Tyrannosaurus, and if you get a chance to see such a skeleton, try to imagine what an awesome sight this giant creature must have been as it lumbered into view. The last Tyrannosaurus probably died at the end of the Cretaceous period, some 200 million years ago.