<p>"Though the chapters are somewhat technical, most interested readers will find them fascinating and of great interest. This volume is a major contribution to dinosaur research. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Academic and public libraries, all levels.January 2009"—<i>Choice</i><br /> "In all, 'Tyrannosaurus rex, the Tyrant King' is an interesting read. It provides food for thought about a number of controversial topics in dinosaurian biology, and definitive evidence in support of even more hypotheses.6(3) (2009)"—<i>Palarch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology</i><br /> "Tyrannosaurus rex is unquestionably the most charismatic dinosaur, the star of countless Hollywood monster movies. In reality this dinosaur was no monster, but an animal trying to meet the same survival challenges faced by other species, both living and extinct. The contributors to this book shed considerable light on what life was like for one of the most spectacular predators of all time."—James O. Farlow, <i>co-editor, The Complete Dinosaur</i></p>
With its massive head, enormous jaws, and formidable teeth, Tyrannosaurus rex has long been the young person's favorite creepy carnivore in the Mesozoic zoo. Nor has T. rex been ignored by the scientific community, as this new collection amply demonstrates. Scientists explore such questions as why T. rex had such small forelimbs; how the dinosaur moved; what bone pathologies tell us about life in the Cretaceous; and whether T. rex was a predator, a scavenger, or both. There are reports on newly discovered skeletons, on variation and sexual dimorphism, and how the big beasts chewed. The methods used by the contributors to unlock the mysteries of T. rex range from "old fashioned" stratigraphy to contemporary computer modeling. Together they yield a wealth of new information about one of the dinosaur world's most famous carnivores. An enclosed CD-ROM presents additional photographic and filmed reconstructions of the mighty beast.
Contents
Supplemental CD-Rom Contents
Contributors
Preface
Institutional Abbreviations
1. One Hundred Years of Tyrannosaurus rex: The SkeletonsNeal L. Larson
2. Wyoming's Dynamosaurus imperiosus and Other Early Discoveries of Tyrannosaurus rex in the Rocky Mountain WestBrent H. Breithaupt, Elizabeth H. Southwell, and Neffra A. Matthews
3. How Old Is T. rex? Challenges with the Dating of Terrestrial Strata Deposited during the Maastrichtian Stage of the Cretaceous PeriodKirk Johnson
4. Preliminary Account of the Tyrannosaurid Pete from the Lance Formation of WyomingKraig Derstler and John M. Myers
5. Taphonomy of the Tyrannosaurus rex Peck's Rex from the Hell Creek Formation of MontanaKraig Derstler and John M. Myers
6. Taphonomy and Environment of Deposition of a Juvenile Tyrannosaurid Skeleton from the Hell Creek Formation (Latest Maastrichtian) of Southeastern MontanaMichael D. Henderson and William H. Harrison
7. One Pretty Amazing T. rexMary Higby Schweitzer, Jennifer L. Wittmeyer, and John R. Horner
8. Variation and Sexual Dimorphism in Tyrannosaurus rexPeter Larson
9. Why Tyrannosaurus rex Had Puny Arms: An Integral Morphodynamic Solution to a Simple Puzzle in Theropod PaleobiologyMartin Lockley, Reiji Kukihara, and Laura Mitchell
10. Looking Again at the Forelimb of Tyrannosaurus rexChristine Lipkin and Kenneth Carpenter
11. Rex, Sit: Digital Modeling of Tyrannosaurus rex at RestKent A. Stevens, Peter Larson, Eric D. Wills, and Art Anderson
12. T. rex Speed TrapPhillip L. Manning
13. Atlas of the Skull Bones of Tyrannosaurus rexPeter Larson
14. Palatal Kinesis of Tyrannosaurus rexHans C. E. Larsson
15. Reconstruction of the Jaw Musculature of Tyrannosaurus rexRalph E. Molnar
16. Vestigialism in a DinosaurWilliam L. Abler
17. Tyrannosaurid Pathologies as Clues to Nature and Nurture in the CretaceousBruce M. Rothschild and Ralph E. Molnar
18. The Extreme Lifestyles and Habits of the Gigantic Tyrannosaurid Superpredators of the Late Cretaceous of North America and AsiaGregory S. Paul
19. An Analysis of Predator-Prey Behavior in a Head-to-Head Encounter between Tyrannosaurus rex and TriceratopsJohn Happ
20. A Critical Reappraisal of the Obligate Scavenging Hypothesis for Tyrannosaurus rex and Other Tyrant DinosaursThomas R. Holtz Jr.
21. Tyrannosaurus rex: A Century of CelebrityDonald F. Glut
Index
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Peter Larson is founder and president of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City, South Dakota, whose staff was responsible for excavating the T. rex known as "Stan." He lives in Hill City, South Dakota.
Kenneth Carpenter is the dinosaur paleontologist for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He is author of Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs (IUP, 2000) and editor of The Carnivorous Dinosaurs (IUP, 2005) and The Armored Dinosaurs (IUP, 2001). He lives in Aurora, Colorado.