Natural History, including Gorgosaurus
Natural History, including Gorgosaurus
Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth
Auction Closed
July 28, 03:27 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 8,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Tyrannosaurus Rex Tooth
Tyrannosaurus rex
Late Cretaceous (approx. 67 million years ago)
Tooth Draw Quarry, Butte County, South Dakota
3 inches (7.6 cm) in length. 6 inches (15.2 cm) tall on custom stand.
Large tooth displaying complete crown, with well-preserved tip and serrations on anterior and posterior edges showing only minor wear. Enamel exhibiting a dark umber patina, and displaying some surface erosion on a small section of the crown base, together with minor root etching. Part of the root is preserved.
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.