Natural History, including Gorgosaurus

Natural History, including Gorgosaurus

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 202. Tyrannosaurus Rex Complete Rooted Tooth.

Tyrannosaurus Rex Complete Rooted Tooth

Auction Closed

July 28, 03:27 PM GMT

Estimate

80,000 - 90,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Tyrannosaurus Rex Complete Rooted Tooth

Tyrannosaurus rex

Late Cretaceous (approx. 67 million years ago)

Lance Formation, Weston County, Wyoming


8 inches (20.3 cm) in length. 10¼ inches (26 cm) on custom stand


Exceptional in its completeness. Enamel, serrations, edges, and tip all show little to no wear. The root preserves the impression of the natural socket for the succeeding, undeveloped tooth. Accompanied by a custom display stand. 

Tyrannosaurus 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, other than its ancestor, Gorgosaurus (see lot 1). 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 apex predator allowed it to hunt virtually every large dinosaur in its environment, including Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Ornithomimus, Pachycephalosaurus, Edmontosaurus, and even other tyrannosaurs.


The full T. rex tooth offered here is especially interesting as it exhibits a developmental stage in tyrannosaurid tooth replacement, preserving the impression of the socket for the succeeding, unerupted tooth.