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T-rex found in Canada is biggest ever

T. rex skeleton.Image source, Amanda Kelley

Dinosaurs come in all different shapes and sizes. Big ones, small ones, tall ones, long ones... and then there's 'Scotty'.

'Scotty,' is a 66-million-year-old T-rex who was found in Canada back in 1991, and it's taken 28 years for him to be crowned as the undisputed king of kings when it comes to the Tyrannosaurus rex.

A team of palaeontologists measured Scotty's fossilised bones and worked out that when he walked the earth, he weighed a whopping 1430 stones. That's the same weight as 77 Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnsons!

The research team described Scotty as "exceptionally large" and "robust", which basically means he was an absolute unit.

Even when we look to creatures currently alive in the animal kingdom, this monstrous prehistoric lizard is up there with the biggest of them and is a similar weight to that of an African Bush Elephant.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

A girl looks into the jaws of a model T-rex

So why did it take so long to find out that Scotty was so big?

Good question. When Scotty was found in Canada his fossilised skeleton was encased in sandstone and it took 10 years to dig him out. After that, lots of work and research was done looking at his bones. With the help of modern technology, scientists were able to put together a picture of just how big he would've been.

Scotty is also unique because he is the oldest T-rex skeleton ever discovered, having lived 66 million years ago. By looking at his big leg bones, scientists also figured out that he got to the grand old age of about 30 when he was alive, which was pretty good for a Tyrannosaurus. The ferocious lizards were always getting into scraps, Scotty's bones had the marks of a fair few fights and big injuries.

Scott Persons, a researcher at the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta in Canada says.

"I think there will always be bigger discoveries to be made, but as of right now, this particular Tyrannosaurus is the largest terrestrial predator known to science." That means Scotty is the largest meat eating creature that has ever walked the earth... For now at least.