Natural History
Natural History
No reserve
Lot Closed
December 3, 07:09 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 8,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
The Tooth of a T. rex
Tyrannosaurus rex
Late Cretaceous (approx. 67 million years ago)
Hell Creek Formation, Dawson County, Montana, United States
2¼ inches (5.71 cm) in length. 6¾ inches tall on custom stand.
Excellent condition, with no restoration, displaying good enamel coverage with some surface exfoliation; well-preserved serrations run along both lateral edges.
No animal elicits the combination of fascination, fear, and reverence like that of the "tyrant lizard king", Tyrannosaurus rex.
Dominating the western landscape of late Cretaceous North America, T. rex's five foot long skull was packed with 60 teeth and featured a bone-crushing bite force of nearly 13,000 pounds (5,900 kg) per square inch, the strongest of any terrestrial animal ever. In comparison to other carnivorous theropods, T. rex teeth are proportionately huge. Robust and thick enameled crowns strengthened dozens of teeth with serrations on two different edges like double-sided steak knives. The unrivaled power of this 40 foot (12.2 m) long, 16,000 pound (7,260 kg) apex predator allowed it to hunt virtually every large dinosaur in its environment, including Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Ornithomimus, Pachycephalosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and even other tyrannosaurs.