World's largest T. rex skull now on display...

[Guy Leahy <xrciseguy@sbcglobal.net>]

Largest T. Rex Skull on Display at Museum

A 5-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex skull, unearthed
nearly 40 years ago in eastern Montana, is now on
display at the Museum of the Rockies here.

The skull, which paleontologist Jack Horner says is
the world's largest, was found in the Hell Creek
Formation near Billings in the late 1960s and
collected by Montana State University geologist Bill
McManus.

Museum preparator Carrie Ancell began reconstructing
the skull fragments in the late 1980s, and Michael
Holland finished the work this year.

"We are going to try to figure out how old the animal
was when it died by using histology, the study of the
microscopic structure of fossil remains," said Horner,
the museum's curator of paleontology. "The specimen
contains several characteristics that suggest this
individual was mature, and perhaps quite old, when it
died."

The latest T. rex skull is one of three on display at
the Museum of the Rockies, which has parts of 12 T.
rexes.

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On the Net:

Museum of the Rockies: http://museumoftherockies.org