Prehistoric Park Animal Field Guide Volume 1

by WildExpert24

As a Prehistoric Park employee, you get the privilege to work with the likes of previously extinct animals. However, if you want to survive longer than five minutes, then you need to know its inhabitants. From the world of Cartoon's Prehistoric Park, this Guide will give you info on behavior, diet, lifespan, and more. Welcome to the Ultimate Prehistoric Guidebook.

3. Specimens of Tyrannosaurus Pt 1

Specimens of Tyrannosaurus Pt. 1

Due to how T. Rex is a very popular and iconic dinosaur and there is a lot of information on them, we dedicate these sections focusing on Specimens and their role in Popular Culture.

Tyrannosaurus is one of the most iconic dinosaurs and is known from numerous specimens, some of which have individually acquired notability due to their scientific significance and media coverage. Here are just some of the many and quite famous specimens of T. Rex.

Manospondylus: AMNH 3982: The first-named fossil specimen which can be attributed to Tyrannosaurus rex consists of two partial vertebrae (one of which has been lost) found by Edward Drinker Cope in 1892. Cope believed that they belonged to an "agathaumid" (ceratopsid) dinosaur, and named them Manospondylus gigas, meaning "giant porous vertebra" in reference to the numerous openings for blood vessels he found in the bone. The M. gigas remains were later identified as those of a theropod rather than a ceratopsid, and H.F. Osborn recognized the similarity between M. gigas and Tyrannosaurus rex as early as 1917. However, due to the fragmentary nature of the Manospondylus vertebrae, Osborn did not synonymize the two genera.

Specimen Number: AMNH 3982

Name: Manospondylus

Completeness: 1%

Discovery: 1892

Museum: American Museum of Natural History

Museum City: New York City

Discoverer: Edward Cope

Formation: Hell Creek Formation

Location: Faith, South Dakota

Notes: Described as Manospondylus gigas

Dynamosaurus: BMNH R7994: The holotype of Tyrannosaurus rex, a partial skull, and skeleton originally called AMNH 973 (AMNH stands for American Museum of Natural History), was discovered in the U.S. state of Montana in 1902 and excavated over the next three years. Another specimen (AMNH 5866), found in Wyoming in 1900, was described in the same paper under the name Dynamosaurus imperiosus. At the time of their initial description and naming, these specimens had not been fully prepared and the type specimen of T. rex had not even been fully recovered. In 1906, after further preparation and examination, Henry Fairfield Osborn recognized both skeletons as belonging to the same species. Because the name Tyrannosaurus rex had appeared just one page earlier than Dynamosaurus in Osborn's 1905 work, it was considered the older name and has been used since. Had it not been for page order, Dynamosaurus would have become the official name.

Specimen Number: BMNH R7994

Name: Dynamosaurus

Completeness: 13%

Discovery: 1900

Museum: Natural History Museum, London

Museum City: London

Discoverer: Barnum Brown

Formation: Lance Formation

Location: Seven Mile Creek, Wyoming

Notes: Originally AMNH 5866

Described as Dynamosaurus imperiosus, analysis of the specimen suggests a large individual similar to Sue.

Holotype: CM 9380: CM 9380 is the type specimen used to describe Tyrannosaurus rex. Fragments of (then) AMNH 973 were first found in 1902 by Barnum Brown, assistant curator of the American Museum of Natural History and a famous paleontologist in his own right. He forwarded news of it to Osborn; it would be three years before they found the rest of it. In 1905 when the type was described by Osborn, previous knowledge of dinosaur predators at the time was based on Jurassic carnosaurs, so the short fore-arms of the Tyrannosaurus were treated with extreme caution, with the suspicion that bones of a smaller theropod had become jumbled with the remains of the bigger fossil. Following the 1941 entry of the United States into World War II, the holotype was sold to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh for protection against possible bombing raids. The specimen, now labeled CM 9380, is still mounted in Pittsburgh, at first with the tail acting as a tripod in the old-fashioned kangaroo pose. It has since received a modernization of its posture (mounted by Phil Fraley and crew) and can now be found balancing with its tail outstretched. Along with a more lifelike posture, the specimen also now includes a composite reconstruction of the skull by Michael Holland. It has been reconstructed in recent years, it measured an estimated 11.9 meters in length and an estimated weight of 7.4 - 14.6 metric tonnes, 9.1 metric tonnes being the average estimate in that study, although most earlier studies have suggested lower weight figures.

Specimen Number: CM 9380

Name: Holotype

Completeness: 10%

Discovery: 1902

Museum: Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Museum City: Pittsburgh

Discoverers: Barnum Brown and Richard Lull

Formation: Hell Creek Formation

Location: Montana

Notes: Originally AMNH 973

AMNH 5027: This specimen was discovered and excavated in 1908 by Barnum Brown in Montana, and described by Osborn in 1912 and 1916. At the time of discovery, a complete cervical (neck vertebrae) series for Tyrannosaurus was not previously known, so it was this specimen that brought the short, stocky tyrannosaur neck to light. Compared to later specimens (BMNH R7994 and FMNH PR2081, for instance) the cervical series of AMNH 5027 is much more gracile, so with later discoveries the distinction between tyrannosaurid necks and the necks of carnosaurs became more obvious. This specimen also provided the first complete skull of Tyrannosaurus rex. In total, Brown found five partial Tyrannosaurus skeletons. The skeleton of this specimen was used as the iconic symbol for the Jurassic Park film series.

Osborn planned to mount the similarly sized AMNH 5027 and AMNH 973 together in dynamic poses. Designed by E.S. Christman, the scene was to depict a rearing Tyrannosaurus (AMNH 5027) snapping at another cowering one (AMNH 973), as they fought over the remains of a hadrosaur, described at the time as Trachodon. However, technical difficulties prevented the mount from being executed. One obvious problem was that the Cretaceous Dinosaur Hall was too small to accommodate this dramatic display, and AMNH 5027 was already mounted by itself as the central attraction of the hall. The forearms of Tyrannosaurus were not well documented and the hands were unknown, so for the sake of the display, the forearms of AMNH 5027 were given three fingers, based on the forelimbs of Allosaurus (the more allosaur-like arms were replaced several years later when better fossils of tyrannosaurid arms were found).

The mount retained a rearing pose similar to the initial proposal. By the 1980s it was generally accepted that such a pose would have been anatomically impossible in life, and the skeleton was re-mounted in a more accurate, horizontal pose during a renovation of the museum's dinosaur halls in the early 1990s. The mount can still be seen on display on the fourth floor of the American Museum. The American Museum of Natural History features AMNH 5027 in its famed Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs to this day.

Specimen Number: AMNH 5027

Name: N/A

Completeness: 45%

Discovery: 1908

Museum: American Museum of Natural History

Museum City: New York City

Discoverer: Barnum Brown

Formation: Hell Creek Formation

Location: Montana

Notes: The base skeleton was used as the iconic symbol for the famous logo of the Jurassic Park film series.

Nanotyrannus: CMNH 7541: A small but nearly complete skull of Nanotyrannus lancensis, frequently considered to be a juvenile T. rex, was recovered from Montana in 1942. This skull, Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) 7541, measures 60 centimeters (2.0 ft) in length and was originally classified as a species of Gorgosaurus (G. lancensis) by Charles W. Gilmore in 1946. In 1988, the specimen was re-described by Robert T. Bakker, Phil Currie, and Michael Williams, then the curator of paleontology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where the original specimen was housed and is now on display. Their initial research indicated that the skull bones were fused and that therefore represented an adult specimen. In light of this, Bakker and colleagues assigned the skull to a new genus, named Nanotyrannus for its small adult size. The specimen is estimated to have been around 5.2 meters (17 ft) long when it died. However, a detailed analysis of the specimen by Thomas Carr in 1999 showed that the specimen was, in fact, a juvenile, leading Carr and many other paleontologists to consider it a juvenile specimen of T. rex. The current classification of CMNH 7541 is not universal.

LACM 23844: In 1966, a crew working for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County under the direction of Harley Garbani discovered another T. rex (LACM 23844) which included most of the skull of a very large, mature animal. When it was put on display in Los Angeles, LACM 23844 was the largest T. rex skull on exhibit anywhere.

"Black Beauty": RTMP 81.6.1: "Black Beauty" (specimen number RTMP 81.6.1) is a well-preserved fossil of Tyrannosaurus rex. The nickname stems from the apparent shiny dark color of the fossil bones, which occurred during fossilization by the presence of minerals in the surrounding rock; it was the first Tyrannosaurus rex specimen to receive a nickname, beginning a trend that continues with most major T. rex finds. Black Beauty was found in 1980 by a high school student, Jeff Baker, while on a fishing trip with a friend in the region of the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. A large bone was found on the riverbank and shown to their teacher. Soon afterward, the Royal Tyrrell Museum was contacted, and excavation of the sandstone matrix surrounding the fossils began in 1982. The dig site where the fossil was found is located at approximately 114 degrees West near the confluence of the Crowsnest and Willow Rivers and consisted of rock belonging to the Willow Creek Formation. The specimen is housed in the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada.

In 2009, a paper by Jack Horner and colleagues illustrated the concept of parasitic infections in dinosaurs by analyzing the lesions found on the cranial bones of Black Beauty. The specimen has been used to study comparative morphology between tyrannosaurids and Tyrannosaurus individuals.

Replicas of Black Beauty has been shown in some exhibitions and museums, including both simple skull montages and complete skeletons. Casts are on display in museums around the world.

Specimen Number: RTMP 81.6.1

Name: "Black Beauty"

Completeness: 28%

Discovery: 1980

Museum: Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

Museum City: Drumheller

Discoverer: Jeff Baker

Formation: Willow Creek Formation

Location: Crowsnest Pass, Alberta

Notes: One of the westernmost specimens, was found at 114 degrees West longitude. Noted for black coloration taken on during fossilization.

"Stan": BHI 3033: Stan is the nickname given to a fossil found in Hell Creek Formation, South Dakota, close to Buffalo in 1987 by Stan Sacrison, who also discovered the Tyrannosaurus specimen nicknamed "Duffy". The original fossils are now housed at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc. center. It is a well-known specimen, and one of the most complete, with 199 bones recovered. About 30 casts of the original fossil have been sold worldwide, each for a price of about $100,000. Stan's skeleton was auctioned for $31.8 million in a 2020 Christie's New York sale, making it a record-breaking dinosaur sale, with the buyer eventually being revealed as the under-construction Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi in the Saadiyat Cultural District.

Like many other fossils of Tyrannosaurus rex, the skeleton of Stan shows many broken and healed bones. These include broken ribs and damage to the skull. One of the most prominent injuries is in the neck and the skull. A piece of bone is missing at the rear, and the skull also bears a hole 1 inch wide, probably made by another Tyrannosaurus. Also, two of the cervical vertebrae are fused, and another has additional bone growth. This could have been caused by another Tyrannosaurus bite. The bite marks are healed, indicating that Stan survived the wounds. Stan could also have been infected by Trichomonas-like parasites.

"Wankel Rex": MOR 555: In 1988, local rancher Kathy Wankel discovered another Tyrannosaurus rex in Hell Creek sediments on an island in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge of Montana. This specimen was excavated by a team from the Museum of the Rockies led by paleontologist Jack Horner, with assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The specimen, given the number MOR 555 but informally called the "Wankel rex," includes approximately 46 percent of the skeleton, including the skull, as well as what at the time was the first complete T. rex forelimb. It has an estimated length of around 11.6 meters (38 ft) and a weight between 5.8 metric tons (6.4 short tons) and 10.8 metric tons (11.9 short tons) in newer figures. It is estimated that the "Wankel rex" was 18 years old when it died, an adult but not completely grown. The "Wankel rex" was also one of the first fossil dinosaur skeletons studied to see if biological molecules still existed within the fossilized bones. Doctoral candidate Mary Schweitzer found heme, a biological form of iron that makes up hemoglobin (the red pigment in blood).

It was long on exhibit at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. In June 2013, the Corps loaned the specimen to the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Museum in Washington, D.C., for 50 years. (The Museum of the Rockies continues to display a cast reconstruction of the skull by Michael Holland). The specimen went on temporary display on National Fossil Day, 16 October 2013, and was exhibited until the museum's dinosaur hall exhibit closed for renovation in the spring of 2014. The skeleton, named "The Nation's T. rex" became the centerpiece of the dinosaur hall when it reopened in 2019. Casts of MOR 555 are on display at the National Museum of Scotland, the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, and the University of California Museum of Paleontology. A bronze cast of the specimen, known as "Big Mike", stands outside the Museum of the Rockies.

In 2022, Gregory S. Paul and colleagues argued that the Wankel rex was not a T. rex, but rather the holotype for a new species: Tyrannosaurus regina. This was heavily criticized by several other leading paleontologists, including Stephen Brusatte, Thomas Carr, Thomas Holtz, David Hone, Jingmai O'Connor, and Lindsay Zanno when they were approached by various media outlets for comment. Their criticism was subsequently published in a technical paper.

Specimen Number: MOR 555

Name: "Wankel"

Completeness: 46%

Discovery: 1988

Museum: Museum of the Rockies

Museum City: Bozeman

Discoverer: Kathy Wankel

Formation: Hell Creek Formation

Location: Montana

Notes: Also known as The Nation's Rex. The specimen is on loan to the Smithsonian Institution, with a cast on display at the Museum of the Rockies.

"Sue": FMNH PR2081: Susan Hendrickson of the Black Hills Institute discovered the best-preserved Tyrannosaurus currently known, in the Hell Creek Formation near Faith, South Dakota, on 12 August 1990. About 90% of the skeleton was recovered, allowing the first complete description of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. This specimen, named "Sue" in honor of its discoverer, soon became embroiled in a legal battle over its ownership. The owner of the land the fossil was found, Maurice Williams, as well as the Sioux Tribe he belonged to, claimed ownership the Institute had considered itself to have. In 1997, the suit was settled in favor of Williams, and the fossil was returned to Williams' ownership. Williams quickly offered up "Sue" for auction by Sotheby's in New York, where it was sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago for US$8.4 million—the highest price ever paid for a fossil before being surpassed by Stan.

Sue has a length of 12.3 – 2.4 meters (40.4 – 40.7 ft), stands 3.66 – 3.96 m (12–13 ft) tall at the hips, and according to the most recent studies estimated to have weighed between 8.4 and 14 metric tons when alive. It has been hypothesized that Sue's impressive size may have been achieved due to a prolonged ontogenic development since it is the third oldest Tyrannosaurus known. Sue's age at the time of death was estimated by Peter Mackovicky and the University of Florida to be 28 years old, over 6–10 years older than most big Tyrannosaurus specimens, like MOR 555, AMNH 5027, or BHI 3033. The only known specimen of T. rex that is older than Sue is Trix.

Preparation of "Sue" (FMNH PR2081) was completed at the Field Museum and the skeleton was placed on exhibit on 17 May 2000.

Specimen Number: FMNH PR2081

Name: "Sue"

Completeness: 85%

Discovery: 1990

Museum: Field Museum of Natural History

Museum City: Chicago

Discoverer: Sue Hendrickson

Formation: Hell Creek Formation

Location: Faith, South Dakota

Notes: The largest known specimen at the time of discovery as well as one of the most complete.

"Peck's Rex": MOR980: Peck's Rex (also known as "Peckrex", "Rigby's rex" and Tyrannosaurus "imperator") is the nickname given to a fossil specimen found in Montana in 1997. The discovery was made by Louis E. Tremblay on 4 July 1997 working under the supervision of J. Keith Rigby Jr. who led the excavation and bone preparation. The fossil got its nickname after Fort Peck, which is located close to the place of discovery.

The fossil of Peck's Rex is relatively well preserved. The skeleton includes a relatively complete skull with jaws, multiple vertebrae of the back and tail, a well-preserved gastralium, and a hipbone with complete ischium and pubis. The left hind leg is relatively complete with a 1.2-meter-long (3.9 ft) femur, missing only some toe bones. The forelimbs include the scapula and furcula, both humeri and right-hand phalanges, as well as metacarpal III. Peck's Rex has been the subject of research regarding parasitic infections in dinosaurs. The forelimbs of Peck's Rex have also been studied as they show evidence of use. This evidence includes the construction of metacarpal III, as well as repeated fractures in the furcula—possibly caused by heavy loads or pressure (Carpenter and Lipkin, 2005).

Peck's Rex's real fossilized bones are exhibited at The Museum of the Rockies as part of a full body mount completed with plaster replacing the missing bones and were nicknamed Montana's Rex. This was made since their old main T. rex complete real skeleton; Wankel Rex (now nicknamed Nation's Rex) was sent to Washington DC Smithsonian's museum to occupy a central part in the museum's dinosaur hall, featuring a dynamic mount showing the apex predator devouring a Triceratops carcass. It has been stated by Pete Makovicky, the Chicago museum's lead curator of dinosaurs, that this specimen is in the same size range as "Sue" and "Scotty".

"Bucky": TCM 2001.90.1: Bucky is a fossil of a juvenile specimen on display at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the first juvenile Tyrannosaurus ever placed on a permanent exhibit in a museum. The dinosaur remains were found in 1998 in the Hell Creek Formation near the town of Faith, South Dakota. The skeleton, transported by water, ended up in a low shallow valley along with bones from an Edmontosaurus and Triceratops. It was discovered by rancher and cowboy Bucky Derflinger. Bucky was well preserved and easily prepared by the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota. Part of The Children's Museum of Indianapolis Dinosphere exhibit, Bucky is displayed along with Stan, an adult Tyrannosaurus, in a hunting scene. Both dinosaurs are attacking a Triceratops specimen known as "Kelsey".

Bucky is one of the few dinosaur fossils found with a furcula; Bucky's furcula was the first one found for the genus Tyrannosaurus. Bucky also has a nearly complete set of gastralia, or belly ribs, and an ulna, or lower arm bone. As of now, 101 bones, or about 34% of Bucky's skeleton, have been discovered and verified. Bucky is the sixth-most complete Tyrannosaurus rex out of more than 40 that have been discovered.

Specimen Number: TCM 2001.90.1

Name: "Bucky"

Completeness: 34%

Discovery: 1998

Museum: The Children's Museum of Indianapolis

Museum City: Indianapolis

Discoverer: Bucky Derflinger

Formation: Hell Creek Formation

Location: Faith, South Dakota

"Jane": BMRP 2002.4.1: Jane is a fossil specimen of a small tyrannosaurid dinosaur, officially known as BMRP 2002.4.1, discovered in the Hell Creek Formation in southern Montana in 2001. Despite having a typically female name, Jane's sex is unknown—the specimen was named after Burpee Museum benefactor Jane Solem. The specimen was found in the summer of 2001 by Carol Tuck and Bill Harrison on an expedition led by Burpee Museum curator Michael Henderson. After four years of preparation, Jane was put on display at Rockford, Illinois' Burpee Museum of Natural History as the centerpiece of an exhibit called "Jane: Diary of a Dinosaur."

The Jane specimen has been central to the debate regarding the validity of the proposed tyrannosaurid genus Nanotyrannus. However, the Jane material has yet to be properly studied and described by scientists. Although Larson (2013) saw Jane as more identical to CMNH 7541 and LACM 28471 than to adult T. rex in having a higher tooth count, large pneumatic foramen on the center of the quadratojugal, T-shaped postorbital, and fused shoulder blade and pelvis, Yun (2015) concurred with the opinion of most workers that Nanotyrannus is a juvenile T. rex, noting that a juvenile specimen of Tarbosaurus described by Tsuihiji et al. (2011) also has a T-shaped postorbital. Paleontologists who support the theory that Jane represents a juvenile believe the tyrannosaur was approximately 11 years old at its time of death, and its fully restored skeleton measured 6.5 meters (21 ft) long, a bit more than half as long as the largest-known complete T. rex specimen, nicknamed "Sue," which measures 12.3 m (40 ft) long. According to Hutchinson et al. (2011), the weight of the Jane specimen in life was probably between 639 kg (1,409 lb) and 1,269 kg (2,798 lb), with 954 kg (2,103 lb) being the average estimate. Jane is currently a resident at the University of Leicester.

Specimen Number: BMRP 2002.4.1

Name: "Jane"

Completeness: 50%

Discovery: 2001

Museum: Burpee Museum of Natural History

Museum City: Rockford

Discoverer: Carol Tuck William Harrison

Formation: Hell Creek Formation

Location: Montana

Notes: An adolescent specimen, approximately 14 years old. Considered by a minority of paleontologists to be a separate taxon from Tyrannosaurus.

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