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The imposing Tyrannosaurus Rex discovered in western Canada in 1991 is the largest in the world, a team of paleontologists said on Friday after a long process of reconstructing the skeleton.
Named Scotty, after a bottle of Scotch whiskey was consumed the night the fossil was discovered, the T.Rex was 13 meters wide and probably weighed more than 8.8 tonnes, making it the largest of all carnivorous dinosaurs, the University of Alberta team said. .
“It’s the rex of ‘rexes,'” said Scott Persons, study leader and researcher in the university’s Department of Biological Sciences.
“There is considerable size variation among Tyrannosaurus. Some were longer and some were more robust. Scotty is one of the more robust examples,” Parsons explains.
After the discovery in 1991, paleontologists spent more than a decade removing the sand that covered the bones. They recently resumed the study and found the animal’s unique characteristics, which are not just limited to size.
“Scotty is the oldest known T. Rex,” having lived for over 30 years, the expert said.
“By tyrannosaur standards, it was extraordinarily long-lived. And it was violent,” he added. “There are pathologies adhering to the skeleton, in places where the bones show scars from large injuries”.
The dinosaur skeleton will be on display from May at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.
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