Is Tyrannosaurus overrated?

[Troodon]

Tyrannosaurus wasn't the largest predatory dinosaur species - we know at least nine meat-eating dinosaur larger than him. However, it is Tyrannosaurus, who moves imagination of people and is depicted in thousands of books, movies and games. If you ask random person meet at the street about dinosaurs he or she knows, Tyrannosaurus will be first, if not only species mentioned. Tyrannosaurus became a symbol of dinosaurs.

I have impression, that Tyrannosaurus receives disproportionately much atttention, in comparison to other huge theropods. Why? Why not Carcharodontosaurus for example? For catchy name? Tyrannosaurus wasn't first huge predatory dinosaur to be discovered - Allosaurus, for example was discovered nearly thirty years before its.

 

[Lord Fairfax]

Tyrannosaurus wasn't the largest predatory dinosaur species - we know at least nine man-eating dinosaur larger than him. .

There are no man-eating dinosaurs that we know of, they went extinct long before man evolved

 

[Troodon]

I meant meat-eating of course. Just typo.

 

[kazeuma]

Maybe it is the useless arms or that King Kong defeated it in a movie

 

[paranoid marvin]

When you name a beast effectively 'king of the dinosaurs' it's going to get a lot more attention than one with an unpronouncable name. Plus they look pretty cool; its no surprise that they appear as one of the main bad guys in Dino movies.

 

[Salah]

I think being one of the first more or less completely known genera of large theropods helped Tyrannosaurus become a posthumous celebrity.

It seems to me that the carcharodontosaurids (such as Giganotosaurus, often, if incorrectly, toted as the only theropod bigger than T. rex) and really the allosauroid forms in general are under-appreciated. These guys tackled sauropods to an extent that was definitely unnecessary, and perhaps even impossible, for Tyrannosaurus. And not just any sauropods - the titanosaurs and diplodocids, the largest land animals this planet has yet seen.

The spinosaurs might have occasionally been enormous, but they seem far too specialized to surpass T. rex in dinosaurian badassery. In a fight between Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus, for instance, my money would always be on guy whose name was inspired by the teeth of the Great White Shark.

Tyrannosaurids in general were probably a more dynamic family than their modern detractors give them credit for. A number of genera - Daspletosaurus and Albertosaurus, for instance, seem to have had a good run.

And above all else, we have to look at the tragically underappreciated Tarbosaurus bataar, who for much of its taxonomic history has been lumped with Tyrannosaurus (courtesy in part of Gregory Paul, an otherwise fantastic researcher who possesses a curious fetish for consolidating genera better off left separate). Judging by the fossils discovered in the same formations, Tarbosaurus must have been adapted to hunting titanosaurs, or at the very least must have had to contend with them at times - and this is an animal that in physique was nearly identical to T. rex.

For me Tarbosaurus and what is implied in regards to it habitat is proof that the biggest tyrannosaurines must have been capable of hunting down the biggest of herbivores. Though I agree with the stance that Robert Bakker has advocated since the 1980s - tyrannosaurus weren't, and probably couldn't have been, just giant hyenas.

 

[phil1904]

@Troodon
You're unfair Spinosaurus had its day of glory in a famous movie: J.......K P..K 3.
But not sure that this beast was bigger than a T.Rex, it's speculative.

 

[paranoid marvin]

How many dinosaurs have a rock band named after them?

 

[Todd Feinman]

How many dinosaurs have a rock band named after them?

The Jurassic World of Dinosaur Bands - Top Ten - Getintothis

But even so it's all T Rex.

 

[Jax]

The Jurassic World of Dinosaur Bands - Top Ten - Getintothis

But even so it's all T Rex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZkTh_T75QY