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Tyrannosaurus rex might have been the “tyrant lizard king,” but before the mighty T. rex stomped across what is now North America, it ancestors weren't exactly living like royalty: They were tiny, gangly, and quick on their feet, adapted to life in the shadows of far larger carnivores.
Now, a fossil found in Utah is helping paleontologists better understand how this region's tyrannosaurs went from ecological paupers to princes. Weighing about 170 pounds and standing less than five feet tall, the newly named species Moros intrepidus is one of the smallest dinosaurs of its kind dating back to the Cretaceous period, the time between 66 million and 145 million years ago.
What's more, Moros most closely resembles tyrannosaurs that lived in Asia in the early Cretaceous. The find suggests that the ancestors of Moros crossed a land bridge from Asia into North America, as part of an exchange between the two continents that's well-documented in other dinosaur groups. To honor its journey, researchers gave Moros the globe-trotting species name of intrepidus.
originally posted by: 38181
Considering our 12 inch tall Rooster named “Goblin” is crazy mean, I’d hate to come across any 5 ft tall T-Rex as cute as they might seem .