Tyrannosaurus rex
From Jurassic Park wiki
link title"Keep absolutely still. Its vision's based on movement."—Alan Grant
| Tyrannosaurus rex | |
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| Name meaning | Tyrant Lizard ("Rex" is Latin for "King") |
| Code Name | T-Rex / Rex |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Height | 16-20 feet |
| Length | 37-45 feet |
| Weight | 7-8 tons (7.5 tonnes) |
| Birth Type | Unknown |
| Range | Isla Nublar, Isla Sorna |
| Novel appearances | Jurassic Park (novel), The Lost World (novel) |
| Film appearances | Jurassic Park (film), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (film), Jurassic Park III (film) |
Tyrannosaurus Rex was a large predatory dinosaur. For numerous decades, Tyrannosaurus was the largest land carnivore, but today is surpassed in size to three others - Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Giganotosaurus. JP's Rex was rated and ranked as the number one monster villain with godzilla and spinosaurus and raptors.
Note: This article deals with the creature seen in the Jurassic Park franchise, and may have some information that doesn't correspond to what information is available on the actual dinosaur.
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Behavior
Tyrannosaurs are apex predators and as such spend a lot of time following game trails. They seem to prefer to ambush prey animals, and it was once thought that this was possibly because of their motion sensitive eyesight, which has since been disproved. It was once theorized that most prey animals freeze when afraid because the tyrannosaur supposedly lacked the ability to see stationary prey. In actuality, Tyrannosaurs have excellent binocular vision. see Eyesight Debate The Tyrannosaurs are not random killers, however, and are less likely to attack when full.
Tyrannosaurs are known to pair off during mating, and both parents will remain with their offspring during its growth, exhibiting very powerful parenting and protective instincts, going to great lengths to ensure an infant's safety. However, when they are fully grown and independent they are more solitary, and only interact when mating or rearing young. They also bring small live prey to their young, teaching them how to kill live prey for themselves. Tyrannosaurs are territorial by nature, and will attempt to drive away or kill anything that might be deemed dangerous, whether animate or not.
Description and Statistics
Tyrannosaurus Rex is described as being capable of running as fast as 32 mph by John Hammond. As far as size goes, of the five Tyrannosaurs to prominently appear in the series, the adult female seen in the first film was 46 feet long and 20 feet tall, making her the largest predator to yet appear in Jurassic Park, although the size of the animatronic contradicts to this fact (see Events on Isla Nublar). The male that appeared in the second film was listed at 18 feet tall and 40 feet long. The sub-adult male to appear in the third film was listed at 37 feet long and only about 14 feet tall. The infant to appear in the second film appeared to be no more than 3 feet tall and just a little over 5 feet long. Females are apparently larger than males when fully grown. Reality suggests, though, that the largest Tyrannosaurus yet uncovered, named Sue, had a length of over 42 feet and a height of 20 feet.
They display some sexual dimorphism as adults. Males are generally more stocky and have more prominent brow ridges than females. Males also have a tendency to have visible facial scaring (probably due to battles over territory or mates). Skin color does also vary between sexes. Females are seen as brown/grey skinned, whilst males have a mottled green stripped pattern.
Events on Isla Nublar
The Tyrannosaurus was to be the main attraction at Jurassic Park but failed to appear on its first tour. Later that night, drawn by live bait, a large female arrived at the spot where the cars had stopped. After discovering the fences were inactive, she tore a large hole through them and approached the stranded vehicles.
After being attracted to the waving flashlight in the lead car, she attacked the car and it's passengers, killing Gennaro and wounding Malcolm, apparently due either to territorial or hunting instincts (one goat would not be nearly enough to keep it full). After failing to pinpoint Grant and Lex's location (the dark lighting was the only cause for it's motion-sensitive eyes), it attempts to flush them out by pushing the wrecked lead car down the road and off a steep incline in it's enclosure.
Later, when Ellie and Muldoon arrived in a jeep searching for Grant and the children, the female returned and promptly charged at their jeep, pursuing it out of the vicinity, then ended the pursuit just as they crashed through an outstretching tree.
As Grant and the children were making their way through the park, they were nearly trampled by stampeding Gallimimus, which were running from the Rex. She came bursting out of the woods and killed one of the Gallis. Her final appearance was as the unlikely hero, bursting into the Visitor Center and killing the raptors that were about to kill the survivors.
The female in this film is supposedly the largest Tyrannosaurus seen in the series, many trading cards listing her size as 46 feet long and 20 feet tall making her the largest Tyrannosaurus on record. This also makes her the largest carnivore to yet appear in Jurassic Park, bigger than the Spinosaurus of the third film, which was 43 feet long and 16 feet tall (19 feet including the fin). Although listed at such size, the actual animatronic is smaller and the smallest of the four villains that appeared in the three films, weighing only at 13,000 lbs (5,900 kg).
The Lost World
A pair of Tyrannosaur a male and female (note the male is larger than the female in this movie) and a baby are present in The Lost World. Roland Tembo captures the infant to lure an adult into the open so he can capture it. The infant is rescued by Sarah Harding and Nick Van Owen, who then put a temporary cast on its broken leg. Unfortunately, the cries of the infant draw its parents to the research trailers. Sarah releases the infant in hopes that the adults will leave, but the parents attempt to dispose of the invaders by pushing the trailers over a nearby cliff and into the sea. Eddie manages to keep them from falling, but the parents return unexpectedly and are angered by his efforts to save them, and proceed to tear through the car and eat him.
They later pursue the group, now traveling with Ludlow's's party and kill a number of people. Roland manages to use a tranquilizer on the male and shoot him down, which is transported to San Diego on the barge S.S. Venture.
Despite the being restrained a cage would barely allow it to move, the Rex breaks free and devours the crew during the journey and is accidentally released after the barge smashes into the dock. Dehydrated and hungry, the Rex rampages through the city in search of food and water, finding the latter in the form of a swimming pool and the food in the form of a pet dog. Although the dogs' owners find the rex after their son is awaken by a loud growl, we do not know if they are eaten or not.
Ian and Sarah retrieve the infant from a secure facility that it was brought to via helicopter. They use it to lure the adult back to the barge, placing it in the cargo hold. Ludlow goes in to recapture it, but is trapped when the adult descends behind him and leaves the rest of the killing to the infant. Sarah manages to use a tranquilizer on the adult male before an attempt was sent out to kill it, and they are transported back to Isla Sorna to rejoin the female.
The number of deaths is not specified but it seems that several were caused by panic rather than by the Rex itself. The Rex did however, cause considerable material damage, most notably knocking a bus in a Blockbuster video store.
Both T.Rex animatronics are the second largest to appear in one of the three films, measuring over 40 feet (12 meters) and weighing nearly 20,000 lbs (9 tons).
Jurassic Park III
A Tyrannosaurus was stumbled upon by Grant and the others and immediately gave chase, possibly to protect its kill, and crossed paths with the Spinosaurus. The two carnivores engaged in a vicious battle and the Rex seemed to have the upper hand in the fight until the Spinosaurus grabs the neck with his jaws snapping the neck killing the Tyrannosaurus who falls dead and presumably eaten by the Spinosaurus.
According to official size-charts, the Tyrannosaur from Jurassic Park III was approximately 37 feet long, making it smaller than the previous Tyrannosaurs (and possibly not fully grown yet).
Jurassic Park 4
There are rumors that Tyrannosaurus will reappear again in Jurassic Park 4, along with Spinosaurus. It is unlikely that the animal will not appear, as the creators have acknowledged that many people would like to see the Tyrannosaurus return, it being the logo of the first two films.
The Novel
In Jurassic Park, the adult didn't kill anyone, nearly killing Malcolm and almost eating Tim. The juvenile killed Ed Regis. The creature was also a surprisingly good swimmer, described as swimming much like a crocodile, though this is very unlikely. This T-rex's first appearance is after the power cut, when the creature breaks free of confinement and attacks the cars.
Grant and the children later find it sleeping as they raft down a river. When Lex coughs uncontrollably it wakes up and takes to the water, swimming after them, but soon abandons the pursuit when the juvenile Rex tries to move in on the adult's onshore kill. Muldoon later shoots it with a very large tranquilizer dart, which causes the Rex to pass out it was trying to eat Tim, saving Grant and the children who were seeking refuge behind a waterfall.
Eyesight Debate
Alan Grant states that if you don't move the animal won't see you. This may be false as stated by Richard Levine, "the only reason it would not eat you is if it was not hungry." Supporting Alan Grant's theory, the tyrannosaur may not be able to see you, so to counteract this, the T-rex gives a loud roar to scare its prey into revealing their position by running away. The T-rex may then make the kill. Supporting Levine's theory, in Jurassic Park (film) the Tyrannosaurus, when it escapes from its paddock, eats Donald Gennaro which may have satisfied its hunger. This may be why instead of the Tyrannosaurus eating Grant as well, it only gave a roar to scare him out of her territory. This way the threat to her territory was eliminated.
It's also possible that since it was a binocular Predator, it had trouble seeing stationary prey in the dark. The Rex killed Gennaro because he may have been still in one place, but he moved his arms a little bit, therefore revealing his position to the Rex. Some parts of Gennaro were found when Malcolm was discovered. In Jurassic Park III, the characters in the story run into a Tyrannosaurus devouring its prey. The T-rex then gives a roar scaring the party into running away. The Tyrannosaurus then chases the group. This ironically can support either side of the debate. The Tyrannosaurus Rex may have not been able to see the group so it scared them into running so he could find them or he may have not been hungry from eating his prey, so he just wanted to scare the group away by roaring and chasing them away. Supporting this is the fact that in Jurassic Park (novel) and film, The Tyrannosaurus chases a jeep away from her territory then ceases the pursuit despite the fact that she could have easily destroyed the jeep.
In real life however, it seems highly unlikely that Tyrannosaurus had any motion problems with it's eyesight. The movie and novel Tyrannosaurs may have had motion responsive vision due to the blending of amphibian DNA, which Grant states in the first film, when he is theorizing about why some dinosaurs were beginning to lay eggs.
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
Tyrannosaurus is the main dinosaur in the game Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, as the missions of the PC and PS2 versions of the game focus on the Rex. It is a 5-star carnivore, and is described as possibly the most powerful dinosaur in the game. It will devour guests, swallowing the guest whole after first shaking them around violently, making it mirror the death of Gennaro in the first film.
The Rex in the game is green, reflecting the appearance of the specimen seen in Jurassic Park III. It can be found in the fossil-hunting base. Tyrannosaurus have "death duels" with Spinosaurus, possibly trying to imitate the
style of the movie, Jurassic Park III.
MediaClick here: Tyrannosaurus rex/Media for images and videos related to this article.
External links
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Video
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| Jurassic Park III Dinosaurs |
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| Ankylosaurus • Baryonyx • Brachiosaurus • Ceratosaurus • Compsognathus • Corythosaurus • Parasaurolophus • Pteranodon • Spinosaurus • Stegosaurus • Suchomimus • Tyrannosaurus rex • Velociraptor |
| Warpath Dinosaurs |
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| Acrocanthosaurus • Albertosaurus • Ankylosaurus • Carcharodontosaurus • Cryolophosaurus • Giganotosaurus • Megaraptor • Pachycephalosaurus • Spinosaurus • Stygimoloch • Styracosaurus • Suchomimus • Triceratops • Tyrannosaurus rex |
Image Repository
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