Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)

The T. rex is probably one of the most famous dinosaurs. Its full name is Tyrannosaurus rex, which means “king of the tyrant lizards”. It lived during the late Cretaceous period, around 68 to 66 million years ago.

A young T. rex could reach up to four or five metres long and weigh up to 900kg. That is about as heavy as a teenage elephant. Adults could be more than 12 metres long and weigh over 5,000kg. They had 50 to 60 banana-sized teeth and two tiny arms with claws.

The T. rex was a theropod – a carnivorous dinosaur that walked on two legs. It was one of the most ferocious predators ever to walk the Earth. It had sharp teeth and jaws that were so powerful they could crush a car (see graphic).

It also had a large brain for a dinosaur its size, and scientists believe it was very intelligent. Sadly, this dinosaur, like many others, died in the Cretaceous mass extinction.

You can learn more about this mighty predator at the Hong Kong Science Museum’s exhibition, “Extinction · Resilience”, at the Palaeontology Gallery. It features Paul the T. rex, a lifelike robot dinosaur who teaches visitors what living during the Cretaceous period was like.

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