The West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey
(WVGES) Museum has acquired — as a gift from museum curator, Ray Garton and his wife Mary Ellen — the life-size replica of a
Tyrannosaurus rex (
T. rex) skull. The skull is 50 inches long, 36 inches high, and 36 inches wide. This replica was cast from an original partial skull reconstructed by paleontologists in Canada, where Ray obtained the skull on a field trip in 1999.
Tyrannosaurus rex is probably the best-known dinosaur in the world. Visitors to the
WVGES Museum can get eye to eye with the top predator in the late Cretaceous period, about 67 to 65 million years ago.
T. rex was up to 40 feet long, 13 feet tall at the hip, and weighed as much as 6 tons. The skull is filled with up to 66 replaceable teeth up to 13 inches long, including the root.
Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons have been found in western North America. The sedimentary rocks in West Virginia are too old to contain
dinosaur remains. In its day,
T. rex was the top predator, eating
Edmontosaurus,
Triceratops, and other large dinosaurs for lunch.
WV Geological & Economic Survey
