Tyrannosaurus

The Tyrannosaurus rex, or T-rex, was a large carnivorous dinosaur with very small forelimbs, large hind legs and a long tail. It is one of the largest land carnivores to have ever walked the earth, measuring about 13 meters long and 5 meters high. Most mainstream scientists believe that the T-rex lived at the end of the Cretaceous period, approximately 65 million years ago. Young Earth Creationists on the other hand believe that they became extinct some 6-5,000 years ago, after Noah's Flood when the environment became too hostile for them, however, this view is supported by very little scientific evidence, and is generally regarded with much skepticism outside of the young earth creationist community.

History

The earliest find of a Tyrannosaurus rex occurred in 1892. In 1905, after additional discoveries of fossils, the president of the American Museum for Natural History named the dinosaur. Since then, more than 30 specimens have been found.

In 1990, amateur paleontologist Susan Hendrickson discovered the most complete Tyrannosaurus fossil yet. The fossil, named Sue, is also one of the largest Tyrannosaurus specimen discovered.

Alternate Theories

Young Earth creationists have alternate theories to the existance of the Tyrannosaurus rex, that either it did not live, or that it lived at the same time as humans at some point in history. Also it has been suggested by some that there may be some surviving dinosaurs including Tyrannosaurs in unexplored regions of the Earth.

Diet

T-rex had forward-facing eyes, which gave it binocular vision. Binocular vision is usually present in carnivores, as it helps them see their prey from far off, therefore it is very likely that Tyrannosaurus was a carnivore. Young earth creationists believe that the Tyrannosaurus, along with all other carnivores, was herbivorous in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, but afterwards a change occured that caused T-rex to be unable to digest plants and therefore had to kill and eat other creatures for food.

Some have suggested that T-rex was exclusively a scavenger. This may be partially true, since most carnivores today will happily scavenge available meat. However, it probably was not an exclusive scavenger, as most meat-eaters must also hunt in order to survive. T-rex's jaws were also quite adaptive to grabbing live prey, and probably used them in the same way most carnivores do: bit the throat to either crush the larynx and thus kill by suffocation or through blood loss. Also, the T-rex's large body probably required a great amount of food and therefore scavenging probably wouldn't be sufficient to support its high metabolism.