![]() ![]() rex is short for Tyrannosaurus.Īs much as Tyrannosaurus is celebrated and feared in film and other media, these sources also seem to like punching up on the dinosaur at the same time. Full scientific names can be abbreviated for convenience- Homo sapiens get shortened to H. Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus– these are all genus names, and get italicized when written. Almost no fossil animal has a common name, we refer to them by their scientific names, but usually only the first part (the genus). Outside of scientific literature, we usually refer to living animals by their common names, the ones we use casually for them. So, to bring everyone onto the same page- all animals have 2-part or binomial scientific names. I’ve spoken to kids and adults alike who have no idea what I’m talking about when I say ‘ Tyrannosaurus’. rex make it out like the dinosaur has some sort of special code-name, as if there’s also A-Rexes to Z-Rexes out there somewhere. rex, and you’ll often see it spelled as ‘T. To some people, this dinosaur has only ever been T. So from day one, Tyrannosaurus was perceived as a pop-culture monster first, despite our knowledge about it improving exponentially.įirst things first- let’s start off with the name. This was back in the days when dinosaurs were regarded by both the public and scientists as little more than gaudy, primitive monsters to display in museum halls as prehistoric curiosities to draw in paying crowds so that paleontologists could work on more ‘serious’ topics. Osborne was a born showman, and showcased his new dinosaur as the biggest, most powerful, and deadly predator to ever haunt the planet. Osborne knew he had a prize on his hands- the largest carnivorous dinosaur known at the time- and Brown returned from further expeditions with a complete skull and even more fossils for display. The beast was named by American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborne (remember him from the Velociraptor article?) from material collected in Wyoming by Osborne’s right-hand-man, the legendary Barnum Brown. Tyrannosaurus rex has always had to struggle to live up to its own hype. I think this is how many people feel when confronted with the unglamorous facts about the world’s most famous dinosaur. Once we see the truth of our celebrities, it’s often disappointing, and leaves us disillusioned. With nearly every movie star in the world, the fans usually only see the glamourous side, their true nature only glimpsed by the privileged few lucky enough to dwell within the insular world they occupy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |