T-Rex

Few animals in the history of life have captured human imagination like Tyrannosaurus rex. With a skull over 1.5 meters long packed with banana-sized teeth, T-Rex was the apex predator of its world — and it knew it.

For decades, scientists debated whether T-Rex was an active hunter or a scavenger. The answer, it turns out, is both. Bite marks found on Triceratops bones show healed injuries — meaning the prey survived the attack — settling the question: T-Rex hunted live prey.

Its famous tiny arms weren't vestigial or useless. Recent research suggests they may have been used to grip struggling prey at close range, or during mating. Each arm could curl roughly 180 kilograms.

T-Rex almost certainly had some form of feathering, at least during early life stages — close relatives like Yutyrannus were fully feathered. Whether adults retained feathers or had scaly skin (like the impressions found with some specimens) is still debated.

The largest known individual, nicknamed 'Scotty,' lived in what is now Saskatchewan and is estimated to have weighed over 8,800 kg — making it the heaviest land predator on record.