Tyrannosaurus rex
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- For the Tyrannosaurus-like theropod from the original King Kong film, see Meat-Eater.
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The families of the victims have my sympathies, but what if... a Tyrannosaurus appeared in the city - which - would also happen to eat people. Everyone would want it captured for research.
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— Saito, Gamera the Guardian of the Universe |
Tyrannosaurus rex (ティラノサウルス·レックス Tiranosaurusu rekkusu) is an extinct species of large carnivorous theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. A renowned predator in popular culture, it has been featured in countless films and TV series, including Fantasia, The Land Before Time, the Jurassic Park franchise, and Walking with Dinosaurs. King Kong battled a Tyrannosaurus-like theropod in his debut film, and similar creatures have appeared in other pieces of Kong media since then. One Tyrannosaurus individual was featured as the main antagonist of the 1977 Rankin/Bass-Tsuburaya co-production The Last Dinosaur. Tyrannosaurus, along with Stegosaurus and Iguanodon, served as influences for Godzilla's design.
Name
The name Tyrannosaurus means "tyrant lizard" and is a combination of two Greek words — τύραννος (tyrannos, meaning "tyrant") and σαῦρος (sauros, meaning "lizard"). The specific name, rex, means "king."
Appearance
The general depiction of Tyrannosaurus in pieces of fiction is the appearance of a large bipedal theropod with small 2-3 fingered arms, a large rounded head with pronounced round brow ridges, and large sharp teeth. Traditional depictions give T. rex an upright posture consistent with reconstructions of it and other theropods at the time, while modern depictions from the 1990s onwards give it a more horizontal stance adherent of later studies on theropod posture and anatomy. Like other bipedal dinosaurs, earlier depictions of T. rex also gave it pronated wrists, though it is now considered impossible for its wrists to be held in such a position.
In real life, recent studies and thorough research from fossils have painted the genus Tyrannosaurus in a different image: a large, muscular and bulky theropod with lips that protected its teeth from infection and dehydration-induced damage, a lack of vocal organs necessary for "roaring", a relatively large brain casing inside its skull, a broad facial structure, a rounded snout with an enormous nasal cavity, thick banana-shaped teeth towards the front of the jaws, wrists held in neutral position, three-toed feet with a dewclaw on each ankle, and powerful binocular eyes that are located on the front of their face as opposed to other theropods that have their eyes on the sides of their head. It may also have had feathers, albeit restricted to the top of its body.[2]
Selected history
- The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918)
- The Lost World (1925)
- The Giant Behemoth (1959) [drawing]
- The King Kong Show (TV 1966)
- The Last Dinosaur (1977)
- Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) [skeleton, statue]
- Gamera the Guardian of the Universe (1995) [mentioned]
- The Mighty Kong (1998)
- Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998)
- Kong: The Animated Series (TV 2000-2001)
- Kong: Return to the Jungle (2006)
- Kong: King of the Apes (TV 2016)
- The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)
- Godzilla Singular Point (TV 2021) [portrait]
The Ghost of Slumber Mountain
A Tyrannosaurus rex dueled a Triceratops as a man recorded them nearby.
The Lost World
A Tyrannosaurus rex killed an Agathaumas, then a Pteranodon flying nearby. Another T. rex attacked a Brontosaurus as a volcano erupted.
The Giant Behemoth
Drawings of a pterosaur, Megalosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus rex are seen on a wall in the British Museum where Karnes, Bickford, and Dr. Sampson discuss the Paleosaurus.
The King Kong Show
To be added.
The Last Dinosaur
During routine drilling in the Arctic, a Polar-Borer found itself boring through the seafloor and suddenly surfacing in a lake. The Polar-Borer's crew exited the craft to search the strange area in which they had found themselves, only to be eaten by a huge Tyrannosaurus rex. The crew's sole survivor, Chuck Wade, managed to escape and tell his story to Masten Thrust Jr., head of Thrust Industries, the company that created the Polar-Borers. Thrust, an accomplished big game hunter, was interested in hunting and killing the Tyrannosaurus, and so organized a research party that he said would travel to the bizarre underground world where the Tyrannosaurus was seen and try to document and study it. When Thrust and his crew arrived in the prehistoric world, they quickly came upon the Tyrannosaurus in the jungle, which proceeded to chase them. Thrust fired several shots from his rifle at the Tyrannosaurus, which only seemed to enrage it. Bunta, an African tracker employed by Thrust, managed to stick a spear into the creature and draw blood, but still could not bring it down. The team escaped from the Tyrannosaurus, which then traveled to their camp and destroyed it. After destroying the camp and killing expedition member Dr. Kawamoto, the Tyrannosaurus came upon the Polar-Borer and brought it to its lair. As the Tyrannosaurus tried to bury the Polar-Borer in a cave, it was suddenly attacked by a Triceratops. The Triceratops gored the Tyrannosaurus with its horns and caused it to bleed profusely, but the Tyrannosaurus gained the upper hand and headbutted the Triceratops, causing it to fall on its side. The Tyrannosaurus clawed into its enemy's flesh with its feet, then delivered the killing bite to the creature.
The Tyrannosaurus later came upon a member of the Polar-Borer expedition, Francesca Banks, as well as a primitive woman called Hazel, while they were near a lake. The Tyrannosaurus chased Francesca into a cave, but its head was too large for it to be able to reach her. Thrust, Bunta, and Wade witnessed the Tyrannosaurus threatening Francesca, and quickly tied a huge boulder to the Tyrannosaurus's tail and tried to get it to chase after them. As the Tyrannosaurus chased the men, the boulder rolled down a hill, pulling the Tyrannosaurus off its feet and dragging it down the hill, after which it wandered off. Determined to kill the Tyrannosaurus once and for all, Thrust followed it into the jungle and constructed a makeshift catapult, which would launch a huge boulder directly at the Tyrannosaurus's head once it appeared from the jungle. Bunta attempted to search for the Tyrannosaurus in the jungle, only for it to appear behind him and eat him alive. When the Tyrannosaurus emerged from the jungle and became entangled in a vine trap, Thrust launched the boulder at the creature's head, causing it to fall over. However, the Tyrannosaurus simply rose to its feet and destroyed the catapult, then left. After Wade repaired the Polar-Borer and left with Francesca, Thrust stayed behind with Hazel and wandered off into the jungle to continue to hunt the Tyrannosaurus, which he could hear roaring menacingly in the distance.
Gamera the Guardian of the Universe
While in conference with Dr. Nagamine and Mr. Yonemori, Mr. Saito, the Deputy Minister of the Environment, likened the rarity and scientific value of the two surviving Gyaos specimens to a Tyranosaurus rex appearing in modern times, a predator, which like the Gyaos, would also prove dangerous to people.
The Mighty Kong
After Kong departed into the jungles of Skull Island with Ann Darrow, the enormous primate paused for a moment to inspect her after she briefly passed out. While tending to her, a Tyrannosaurus rex ambushed the ape and charged it. The two had a brief battle in which the dinosaur headbutted the ape before toppling him with a tail smack. Trying to bite Kong in the face, the theropod was thrown off and the two squared off once more. After the Tyrannosaurus charged its rival again, Kong ended the duel by landing a powerful blow to its head that knocked it out. The ape then gathered up Ann before leaving.
Rebirth of Mothra 3
As Rainbow Mothra arrived in the Late Cretaceous Period, a Tyrannosaurus rex pursued a herd of Triceratops nearby. As it bit into a straggler's neck, Cretaceous King Ghidorah seized it in his central head. Before it could be devoured, Rainbow Mothra made his presence known with a volley of Cross Heat Rainbow Lasers, causing the space monster to drop the screaming dinosaur.
After Rainbow Mothra severed part of Cretaceous King Ghidorah's tail with another Cross Heat Rainbow Laser, a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus observed the appendage as it burrowed underground and stared at each other in concern.
Kong: The Animated Series
A population of Tyrannosaurus rexes lived on Kong Island. They were naturally aggressive and would often attack the Island Guardian Kong if he came too close to them.
Kong: Return to the Jungle
A Tyrannosaurus rex attacked a Triceratops that was being chased by a pack of Velociraptors, but was stopped by Kong. A short time later, amid Ramone De La Porta and Hunter Stag III's raid on Kong Island, the T. rex emerged from the jungles to challenge Kong once again. Jason Jenkins initiated a Cyber-Link connection and merged with Kong to fight the T. rex, but was ejected from Kong by a soundwave device on Hunter Stag II's watch, and the T. rex went after Jason. Kong came to Jason's rescue, pushing the theropod away, and the two engaged in a clash, during which Stag used his soundwave device on the T. rex. Shortly after, Kong gained the upper hand in their fight, jamming a palm tree stump between the T. rex's jaws before tackling him to the ground. The T. rex got up once again and he and Kong resumed their fight, while Kip was chased towards Kong by Stag's Cyber-Hunters. Kong punched the T. rex aside to aid Kip, and the T. rex tail-whipped Kong while the giant ape's back was turned. Shortly after, Stag's Cyber-Hunters caught both the T. rex and Kong using net launchers. Afterwards, the T. rex was put in a cage and taken to Stag's zoo in New York City along with other Kong Island fauna.
The T. rex was put in an enclosure facing Kong's, as Stag had planned. Shortly after awakening, the T. rex broke free from his enclosure, setting Stag's plan to set the animals loose on the city in motion. Shortly after breaking free, the T. rex caused damage to the surrounding structures in the zoo and inadvertently spooked the other animals, causing them to break free from the zoo. The T. rex then broke into Kong's enclosure while attacking Stag's helicopter, and the great ape seized his chance to escape while the theropod got up.
Later, the T. rex tracked Kong to a football stadium where the guardian of Kong Island was hiding, and Stag noticed the dinosaur while in his helicopter. The T. rex was hesitant to enter the stadium and confront Kong, but Stag used his soundwave device once again to force the T. rex to attack. The theropod climbed to the stadium roof and began destroying the support structures, causing the roof to collapse in an attempt to kill Kong. However, Kong was already outside the stadium. The T. rex spotted Kong, and the two engaged in another battle. Kong threw a piece of rubble at the T. rex, who leapt out of the way of it; Kong threw a second piece of rubble, and T. rex caught the rubble in his jaws before tossing it aside and advancing towards Kong. When the T. rex reached Kong, the ape tackled him to the ground, and the two giant beasts tumbled across the ground around them. The two roared at each other and circled before Kong punched the T. rex and launched him a decent distance away. The T. rex got to his feet, only to be knocked down again by a car thrown at him by Kong. The T. rex got up again, and he and Kong advanced towards each other before Stag fired a missile at Kong. After Kong brought down Stag's helicopter with a chunk of rubble, the T. rex attempted to fight Kong as the great ape attempted to rescue Kip - who was in the falling chopper - but Kong jumped off of the T. rex and caught the helicopter mid-fall. Stag got out of his downed helicopter and fired a rocket at Kong, but the rocket accidentally hit the T. rex, knocking the dinosaur out.
After Stag was defeated, the T. rex was brought back to Kong Island along with the other prehistoric animals.
Kong: King of the Apes
- Main article: Biono-bot Tyrannosaurus.
Dr. Richard Remy created an army of Biono-bots in the form of several dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex. While Remy used the Biono-bots in his attempts to establish a new world order united under his control, real T. rex lived on in the center of the Earth.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Tyrannosaurus rex was renowned for its strength and powerful jaws. The most recent scientific recreations of the species in real life depict the animal as very muscular and bulky, with its bite force being estimated at about 34,522 newtons[3], giving them one of the highest estimated bite-force of any known terrestrial organism. It is generally theorized that Tyrannosaurus killed its prey by biting down into its neck to either break it or suffocate the other animal.
Despite Tyrannosaurus rex' great size, recent studies have found that they would have been quite agile. A 2019 study found that T. rex and other large tyrannosaurids were at least twice as agile as non-tyrannosaurid theropods of comparable size.[4] Tyrannosaurus' agility has varied greatly in fiction over the years, sometimes even more agile or less agile than is thought for the real-life animal. In Kong: Return to the Jungle, the T. rex was capable of leaping considerable distances.
Intelligence
In real life, Tyrannosaurus rex's intelligence has been a significant subject of debate among scientists. A 2023 study regarding T. rex inferred that the powerful predator would have been highly intelligent, with an estimated telencephalic neuron count comparable to that of a baboon;[5][6] however, the most recent studies indicate the Tyrant Lizard's intelligence was more akin to that of modern crocodiles.[7]
Durability
Specimens of Tyrannosaurus including Stan, Jane, and the renowned Sue, have displayed evidence of injuries sustained from their lives such as broken ribs, bite marks, puncture wounds in jaws, broken shoulder blades, torn tendons, and even holes in the jaw of unknown origin.
Books
- Kong Reborn (2005) [mentioned]
- King Kong (2005) [mentioned]
King Kong (2005)
While running from a herd of Brontosauruses and a pack of predators, Carl Denham compares the latter to a Tyrannosaurus rex and a kangaroo. Later, when Ann Darrow encounters a huge theropod, she also compares it to a T. rex, although the bones she saw in a museum were not that large.
Comics
- King Kong (1933)
- Konga #2 (1961)
- Godzilla #16 (1996)
- Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #9 (2014)
- Godzilla: Rage Across Time #5 (2016)
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
"An Unnatural History"
A Tyrannosaurus appears in a flashback to the Cretaceous period as the Shobijin tell Lucy about the role of the kaiju in prehistoric times. The Tyrannosaurus and a Spinosaurus roar at each other near a dead Triceratops, but Gorosaurus appears and grabs them both. Megaguirus suddenly attacks Gorosaurus and he opens his jaws, losing both smaller dinosaurs, likely already dead.
Godzilla: Rage Across Time
One hundred thirty-six million years ago, in present-day Israel, a Tyrannosaurus rex chased a ceratopsian across the shore. Gezora and Ebirah, locked in battle, burst out of the water next to them, with Ebirah seizing both dinosaurs in a claw. Rodan then swooped in to snatch up the dinosaurs in his beak, only to be shot out of the sky by Godzilla's atomic breath. The Tyrannosaurus was presumably killed by one of these attacks.
Gallery
- Main article: Tyrannosaurus rex/Gallery.
Roar
Although more recent studies indicate that Tyrannosaurus rex (like other dinosaurs) would not have roared in real life,[8] pop culture depictions of the dinosaur commonly bellow. The roars for the Tyrannosaurus rex in The Last Dinosaur were derived from Argidera from Mirrorman, which themselves are a combination of King Kong and Godzilla roars, and the lower-pitched roars of Ultra Series kaiju Red King and Zumbolar. In Rebirth of Mothra 3, the T. rex uses Kaishin Muba's roars from Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon. In Kong: The Animated Series, T. rex utilize the roars of the Tyrannosaurus rex from Jurassic Park, which themselves would also be utilized by Komodithrax in Godzilla: The Series.
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Trivia
- It has been debated for many years whether or not the three-fingered theropod dinosaur that King Kong fought in the 1933 film was actually a Tyrannosaurus or an Allosaurus. In the film's script and 1932 novelization, it is only referred to as a "Meat-Eater." Director Merian C. Cooper referred to the theropod as an Allosaurus, while stop-motion animators Willis O'Brien and Marcel Delgado identified it as a Tyrannosaurus.[9] The dinosaur is also referred to as a "meat eater" in Merian C. Cooper's King Kong, the 2005 rewrite of the novelization by Brad Strickland and Joe DeVito, while the novel's 2005 prequel/sequel Kong: King of Skull Island features another dinosaur that is referred to as a "meat eater." The description of the meat eater in this novel more closely matches that of a T. rex, as it is said to possess two short arms with two fingers each.
- A dinosaur skeleton similar to a Tyrannosaurus rex but with three fingers on its forelimbs can be seen in the 1953 film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
- Rudolph Zallinger's depiction of Tyrannosaurus rex was used as a reference for Godzilla's design in the 1954 film.
- The Tyrannosaurus rex suit from The Last Dinosaur would be reused and modified for two Tsuburaya Productions tokusatsu TV series. For Aizenborg, it was refitted with red glowing eyes to become Ururu (renamed Emperor Tyranis in the American film Attack of the Super Monsters, made from the first four episodes of the series). The suit returned in Koseidon, where it was used to portray various saurians, including the vicious Tyrannosaurus Jackie.
- For the Tyrannosaurus rex suit in The Last Dinosaur, the suit actor's arms are placed above the head, controlling the head movement and the opening and closing of the mouth.
- According to an interview with illustrator Shinji Nishikawa for Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla was originally going to be revealed to have been a Tyrannosaurus rex prior to being mutated by radiation. However, Godzilla was changed to be a Godzillasaurus instead.[10]
- The 2005 remake of King Kong replaces the Tyrannosaurus rex with three Vastatosaurus rexes, which are the result of T. rex living isolated on Skull Island and evolving over millions of years.[1] In the 1996 script for King Kong, also by Peter Jackson, Kong instead battles a group of allosaurs.
- In the video game LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, there is a Tyrannosaurus rex animatronic inside the Batcave; if the player pulls the lever next to it, it lets out the TriStar Godzilla's roar.[11]
- A Tyrannosaurus rex (based on the version from the Jurassic Park franchise) appears in The Lego Batman Movie alongside King Kong as one of the villains released from the Phantom Zone by the Joker.
Related characters
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External links
See also
References
This is a list of references for Tyrannosaurus rex. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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Bibliography
- Falconer, Daniel; Weta Workshop (22 November 2005). The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island. Pocket Star. ISBN 978-1-4165-0519-8.
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