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Tyrannosaurus rex’s great-grandfather unearthed in China
We suspect that the crest was highly coloured and probably a display structure of some kind
"Guanlong shows us how the small coelurosaurian ancestors of tyrannosaurs took the first step that led to the giant T. rex almost 100 million years later,"
- Prof James Clark, George Washington University
"Guanlong shows us how the small coelurosaurian ancestors of tyrannosaurs took the first step that led to the giant T. rex almost 100 million years later,"
- Prof James Clark, George Washington University
Gobi Desert, China - The earliest tyrannosaur - the great-grandfather of the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex - has been unearthed in a desert in China
Dubbed Guanlong, meaning "crowned dragon", the oldest known tyrannosauroid lived about 160 million years ago in northwestern China and was at the base of the evolutionary tree leading to the tyrant lizard king, T. rex.