Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth
Late Cretaceous (approx. 67 million years ago), Hell Creek Formation, Powder River Co., Powdersville, Montana
No reserve
Auction Closed
July 26, 08:15 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth
Tyrannosaurus rex
Late Cretaceous (approx. 67 million years ago)
Hell Creek Formation, Powder River Co., Powdersville, Montana
2⅝ inches (6.80 cm) in length. 3¼ inches (8.25 cm) tall on custom metal stand.
The tooth is virtually complete and intact with good enamel, including well-preserved serrations running along both edges. A fine example, with the tip exhibiting minor apical wear made during life. The specimen displays an attractive chestnut-brown color. There is a section of the root preserved against a small portion of natural matrix.
A VIRTUALLY COMPLETE TOOTH FROM THE GREATEST PREDATOR KNOWN TO WALK THE EARTH
No animal elicits the combination of fascination, reverence, and fear quite like that of Tyrannosaurus rex, the "tyrant lizard king."
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 other than its ancestor, Gorgosaurus. In comparison to other carnivorous theropods, T. rex teeth are proportionately huge. Robust and thickly-enameled crowns strengthened dozens of teeth, with serrations on both the posterior and anterior edges. The almost 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.