There were two top predators of the cretaceous. They would be T. rex, of course, but also the less known Tylosaurus.
T.rex is also called Tyrannosaurus rex. This is the scientific name and it means Tyrant Lizard King. The scientific name is in two parts...the first is the Genus name....it is capitalized....the second part of the scientific name is the species name and the species name should NOT be capitalized. T. rex had an incredible sense of smell. As well as a great set of eyes that had a view from around 20 feet (7 m) off the ground. He/she also had the most powerful bite ever known in an animal. A Tyrannosaurus rex bite could shatter bone. It probably had a pack lifestyle, where younger and faster members of the pack would chase the prey species, (like duckbill dinosaurs), into a trap. The trap would have been sprung when mommy and daddy T. rex jumped out of the woods and did a bone crushing killing bite to the prey. T. rex did have unusually small arms, for its body size, however, those arms may have helped it stand up from a lying down position. As small as they look to us, they were still big enough to possibly dead lift 500 lbs. I drew this T. rex by studying the skull of a T. rex. Notice that the very front teeth are smaller. They are for tearing meat off the bone. The bigger teeth are the size and roushly the shape of a banana. These bigger teeth are the bone crushing teeth.
Tyrannosaurs rex Skull.
Tyrannosaurus rex
Tylosaurus prorigor
Mosasaur tooth
Tylosaurus came in three differnet species. Tylosaurus prorigor is one of those species from the late Cretaceous. Paleontologist thought it had a snake-like or lizard like tail. Now some paleontologist infer that Tylosaurus had a tail fluke, like a whale. Some estimates put Tylosaurus at up to 55 feet long (17 m) long. Tylosaurus was a Mosasaur. Since the midwest was once a shallow sea, many Mosasaur teeth are found in midwest states like Nebraska and Kansas. There is a great IMAX movie, now available on Bluray....called SEA REX. I think that is a great name for the top ocean predator who lived at the same time as T. rex.
Tylosaurus prorigator
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