A team of palaeontologists from the University of Alberta in Canada has discovered the largest skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaurs.
It should be noted that a T-Rex skeleton with such a gigantic size was never ever discovered in history and this makes it the largest individual predator is known to science.
Nicknamed 'Scotty', this gigantic predator measured a remarkable 13-meters long and is about 66 million years old. After analyzing the leg bones of the skeleton, researchers speculated that this dinosaur might have weighed almost 8,800 kilograms. Scotty was named after the whiskey the researchers drank during celebrations after the milestone discovery.
"This is the rex of rexes. There is considerable size variability among Tyrannosaurus. Some individuals were lankier than others and some were more robust. Scotty exemplifies the robust. Take careful measurements of its legs, hips, and even shoulder, and Scotty comes out a bit heftier than other T. rex specimens," said Scott Persons, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at UA and the lead author of the study, Science Daily reports.
The research report now published in the journal Anatomic Records also revealed that Scotty is the oldest T-Rex known.
"Scotty is the oldest T. rex known. By which I mean, it would have had the most candles on its last birthday cake. You can get an idea of how old a dinosaur is by cutting into its bones and studying its growth patterns. Scotty is all old growth," added Persons.
A few months back, researchers had discovered a relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex in New Mexico. Scientists named the creature Dynamoterror and revealed that it was an apex predator that spread terror during its ancient rule. Interestingly, Dynamoterror's bone structures were a little different when compared to T-Rex, and they roamed across the world millions of years before T-Rex started ruling the planet. These creatures were not as big as the T-Rex, but it was very dangerous like its relative predator.
