| Tyrannosaurus rex | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biological information | |
| Time period : | Late Cretaceous period |
| Lifestyle : | Carnivore |
| In the series | |
| Brought back : | 2; brother and sister, Terrence and Matilda |
| Appearances : | "T-Rex Returns" "A Mammoth Undertaking" "Dinobirds" "Saving the Sabretooth" "The Bug House" "Supercroc" (All six) |
Tyrannosaurus rex (name meaning "Tyrant lizard King") was a species of large carnivorous theropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Cretaceous period.
Portrayal in the series[]
Measuring 45 feet (13.7 m) in length and weighing 5-6 tons, Tyrannosaurus was a very large and heavy dinosaur that could often hunt in packs of around three, rarely five individuals. However, if one pack member was mortally wounded during a hunt, the others would abandon them to their fate, meaning the hunt was too heavy for them. Tyrannosaurus were relatively fast and agile animals who were capable of catching fast-moving prey including Ornithomimus, but were also capable in tackling large and sturdy dinosaurs like Triceratops (PP: T-Rex Returns).
Female Tyrannosaurus were highly protective of their offspring and would find food for them even if it costed her her life. She would even fight off other members of her species in order to protect her young, even if she was wounded. (PP: T-Rex Returns)
Tyrannosaurus siblings were extremely hostile towards each other. When juvenile, siblings would commonly play-fight. (PP: T-Rex Returns) However, when sub-adult to adult, siblings would become extremely aggressive and would often fight. It was common for siblings to kill the other. Tyrannosaurus bites could cause infections and diseases like septicemia. (PP: The Bug House)
T. rex hated water, and wouldn't go near it, except for drink or other necessities (PP: T-Rex Returns). If 2 Tyrannosaurus rex were in a zoo and fight, you could separate them with a hose. (PP: Dinobirds)
In Prehistoric Park[]
"T-Rex Returns"[]
A pack of Tyrannosaurus in their territory. (T-Rex Returns)
Nigel plans to start his quest to save extinct animals with the Tyrannosaurus rex as he observes the fossilized skeleton of one at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
After triggering an Ornithomimus stampede, a trio of Tyrannosaurus rex were seen confronting Nigel Marven in a forest. As Nigel bolted, the T. rex followed him. Nigel narrowly escaped by climbing through a fallen branch, disabling the carnivores from following. As Nigel ventured further into the dense vegetation, the Tyrannosaurus eventually left.
The following day, Nigel entered a volcanic ash field littered with footprints. As he followed the trail, he discovered a family of Tyrannosaurus. As he and the cameraman hid behind some rocks, they observed their family behaviors, including the younger males play fighting. After a period of time, the pack left. As soon as they left, Nigel looked for eggs amongst the bones littered haphazardly around the territory. Unfortunately, all the eggs he found were empty.
The next day, the Tyrannosaurus pack from the day before arrived at the river. A large herd of Triceratops was nearby. As the Tyrannosaurus launched the attack, the Triceratops scattered. As the other T. rex caused havoc within the herd, one female managed to catch a baby Triceratops. However, another herd member gored the female with its horns, allowing the baby to escape. As the female roared in agony, the other pack members ran off. The injured female Tyrannosaurus then spotted another Triceratops hiding in the bushes. Nigel stepped in and set up the time portal to Prehistoric Park and attempted to lure the Triceratops and the female Tyrannosaurus through. To Nigel's dismay, only the Triceratops followed. The female T. rex remained in the Cretaceous.
Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus clashing. (T-Rex Returns)
When Nigel returned to the Cretaceous, he found the female Tyrannosaurus by a river. Nigel and the cameraman hid from her as she watched the corpse of a young Triceratops float down the river. As she ventured closer to the carcass, she could not reach it due to her leg injury. After realizing that trying to retrieve the carrion was a lost cause, she left the river.
Later, after causing a flock of Ornithomimus to flee in panic, the female Tyrannosaurus chased them into the location where Nigel and his team were building a giant wall to help aid them into making the female enter the time portal and into Prehistoric Park. As most of the Ornithomimus flock bolted through the time portal, one slower individual failed to outrun the crippled Tyrannosaurus and was caught. The female then left with the Ornithomimus corpse.
Nigel followed the female Tyrannosaurus into her territory before discovering that she was saving the Ornithomimus for her two offspring. As the mother prepared to feed her young, a male Tyrannosaurus confronted her and challenged her for the corpse. The young watched as their mother fought the male Tyrannosaurus. Despite her injury, the female Tyrannosaurus put up a ferocious fight, but was ultimately defeated. Then, the male picked up the Ornithomimus corpse and left. As Nigel approached the now orphaned chicks, the mother gave one last roar at Nigel to save them before finally passing away from her wounds.
A mother Tyrannosaurus defending her young from a male Tyrannosaurus. (T-Rex Returns)
Subsequently, the asteroid marking the K-T boundary extinction event entered the Earth's atmosphere and collided with Earth. Immediately afterwards, as the blast front approached them, Nigel quickly tempted the young Tyrannosaurus through the time portal, using himself as bait. Narrowly escaping the blast front, Nigel and the Tyrannosaurus siblings arrived at Prehistoric Park. The undernourished pair were then fed.
Later, the Tyrannosaurus pair were transported to T-Rex Hill, their new enclosure. Nigel, Bob Arthur and Suzanne McNabb visited them where Nigel named them Terrence and Matilda.
"A Mammoth Undertaking"[]
Bob Arthur and his team were trying to crane a slab of meat over the Tyrannosaurus pen in order to feed Terrence and Matilda. Whilst the food dangled in mid air, Terrence and Matilda frequently tried to reach it. When they released the meat, the pair fought over the food, with Matilda dragging it away. Later, when feeding time came and Martha the woolly mammoth wasn't eating, the T. rex were eating flesh again and putting on more weight.
"Dinobirds"[]
Terrence and Matilda were beginning to get on each other's nerves and they began fighting. Bob Arthur managed to break up the fight by spraying water at the Tyrannosaurus. Whilst separate enclosures were being built, they were both kept in separate holding pens.
"Saving the Sabretooth"[]
Terrence and Matilda were being moved into their previous enclosure but with a wall separating them. When Terrence was moved into his half, he was greeted by Matilda with a hostile lunge.
At the end of the episode, Nigel Marven, Bob Arthur and the two Ornithomimus chicks that imprinted on him visited Matilda in her enclosure. The two chicks wandered into her enclosure but were chased out by her.
"The Bug House"[]
Matilda about to finish off her brother Terrence. (The Bug House)
Matilda broke into Terrence's half of the enclosure and challenged him for it. As Bob Arthur set up a gun in an attempt to tranquilize her, Matilda wounded and nearly killed Terrence but Nigel Marven entered the enclosure in a jeep and used himself as bait. Matilda couldn't resist a moving target and chased Nigel's jeep. As Matilda gained, Nigel stopped the jeep and climbed up a tree where Matilda then succumbed to the tranquilizer dart. Terence was sent to get healed in the end, while Matilda may have been put back into her half of the enclosure (with the gate possibly repaired).
On the operating table, Suzanne McNabb attempted to stitch up a gash of Terrence's face caused by Matilda. The next twenty four hours were critical for Terrence. Later, Suzanne visited Terrence who was being kept in a holding pen. She noticed that the gash on his face was inflamed and infected. She performed a blood test on Terrence and the results were that he had septicemia. Not knowing how it would react on a dinosaur, Suzanne injected him with antibiotics.
When Nigel came back from the Carboniferous, he and Suzanne found out that Terrence had awoken and was trashing Suzanne's surgery. Terrence was later moved back to his enclosure where he was set to make a full recovery.
"Supercroc"[]
Matilda narrowly escapes the Deinosuchus. (Supercroc)
During the Mass Break-Out, one of Prehistoric Park's Titanosaurs broke into Terrence's enclosure. Matilda is also known to have escaped, even though the Titanosaur was not seen breaking her side of the enclosure. Matilda made her way to Mammoth Mount where she separated the baby African elephant from everyone in its herd except for Martha. Martha intervened and defended the baby elephant from Matilda until Nigel Marven used himself as bait and made Matilda pursue him. Matilda chased Nigel past Henry and the other Nile crocodiles, as well as the Deinosuchus Dip, where the resident Deinosuchus leap out of the water to attack Matilda. Matilda managed to avoid it, but this bought Nigel some time. He ran to one of the holding pens and climbed the ladder, narrowly escaping Matilda. Nigel then managed to catch her by locking her in one of the holding pens. Matilda as well as the other escaped park residents were returned to their enclosures.
Behind the scenes[]
- A Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most famous dinosaurs of all time.
- The names, Terrence and Matilda, were inspired by Nigel's parents.
- During the Mass Break-Out, the original plan was for Matilda to be smaller, and for her to jump on Martha's head, before Nigel threw a stone at her, causing her to chase him.
Errors[]
- The narrator stated that T. rex could run 40 mph when they need to. Analysis of the muscular attachments of large Tyrannosaurus has revealed a more likely maximum speed of around 15-25 mph.
- The 5-6 ton weight is likely an underestimate. More up-to-date models of larger individuals like Scotty suggest that large T. rex exceeded 10 tons.
- T. rex was confirmed to not have pronated hands without breaking them, unlike in popular media (Jurassic Park, etc), so their hands were positioned more like modern birds.
- T. rex is depicted as hating water and avoiding large quantities of it, however, there is no evidence to suggest this.
- Nigel mentions that T. rex get injured badly when they fall over. It is likely that the side effects would only be major if the T. rex fell chest-first, as it's sternum was very fragile.
- In the series, T. rex are treated like many other modern reptiles, such as lizards and crocodiles. The correct inference is that keepers should treat them like birds, as they are both Coelurosaurian theropods.
- Recent evidence suggests that Tyrannosaurus rex couldn’t roar; instead they would have communicated without opening their mouths like modern alligators and bitterns. However, this was not known at the time of production.
- While not explicitly stated, the portrayal of Matilda as the larger, more dominant individual compared to Terrence seems to reference a hypothesis that female T. rex were larger and more heavily built than males. This was explicitly stated in the Walking With Dinosaurs series, also produced by Impossible Pictures. This idea was supported by the wider pelvis present in the stockier individuals, thought to have adapted to help eggs pass through. However, it is now thought more likely that the lighter individuals were simply younger as T. rex had a fairly interesting growth curve that likely facilitated transitions between different ecological niches as the animal aged.
Related sites[]
- Tyrannosaurus from Wikipedia
Gallery[]
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