OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Tyrannosaurid theropod — Tyrannosaurus rex

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier

Artist / Creator

Connie Ma from Chicago, United States of America

Date / Period

Latest Cretaceous — Maastrichtian · Latest Cretaceous; documented Smithsonian T. rex teeth from the Hell Creek Formation are Maastrichtian.

Object Type

tooth

Medium

unknown_needs_review

About This Object

Geologic period: Latest Cretaceous — Maastrichtian

Age: Latest Cretaceous; documented Smithsonian T. rex teeth from the Hell Creek Formation are Maastrichtian.

Feeding: Carnivorous.

Body plan: Only dental anatomy is represented.

Evidence: The tooth crown and serrations are direct evidence. Independent bite-mark fossils show T. rex both fed on carcasses and attacked living animals.

Why it matters: A single tooth provides direct evidence for the shape, construction and replacement-based feeding system of Tyrannosaurus.

Plain Language Identity: An isolated tooth from Tyrannosaurus rex.

What You Are Looking At: A fossil tooth rather than a complete T. rex skeleton.

Defense Or Attack: Robust serrated teeth formed part of a powerful bone-crushing feeding system.

Ecosystem: Hell Creek terrestrial ecosystem.

Formation: Hell Creek Formation for documented Smithsonian teeth.

Preservation: Isolated fossil tooth.

Open Questions: Do not use one isolated tooth to infer the age or sex of the animal unless diagnostic evidence is present.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/tyrannosaurus-rex-osborn-1905:nmnhpaleobiology_3451167

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; display reconstruction separated from evidence; provenance uncertainty retained

Scientific name: Tyrannosaurus rex

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

comparative_taxon_visual

T. rex & Triceratops: The Last American Dinosaur World.

Provenance

Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: T. rex and the Last American Dinosaurs: 1

Visual source institution: Wikimedia Commons

Exhibition History

Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.

Collection & Credit

Media license: CC BY-SA 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

Subjects & Themes

Tyrannosaurus rex Latest Cretaceous — Maastrichtian tooth T. rex and the Last American Dinosaurs: 1 T. rex & Triceratops

ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

This object page stays inside SAGE Museum. The Smithsonian link below is provided only as the original scholarly collection record. It opens separately.

VIEW ORIGINAL SMITHSONIAN RECORD ↗