Science and Health

Scientists Discover a 'King of Gore' T. Rex Relative

Now on display in the Natural History Museum of Utah is a relative of T-Rex.

Scientists Discover a 'King of Gore' T. Rex Relative
Lukas Panzarin
SMS

The most dangerous predator to ever walk Earth finally has some competition. 

Now on display in the Natural History Museum of Utah is T-Rex's uncle — the Lythronax Argestes, aka 'Gore King from the Sourthwest.' The Gore King is a part of the Tyrannosaurid family and roamed southwest North America about 80 million years ago. 

The original fossil was discovered in 2009 in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah.  (via YouTube / treser62)

The T-Rex measures in at about 40 feet long and up to 20 feet high, by comparison the Gore King was a lot smaller: 24 feet long and 13 feet high. (via Universal Pictures / "Jurrassic Park")

This new animal lived about 10 million years before the now famous Tyrannosaurous Rex, but Uncle Gore King did pass down some things to little Timmy. 

"A predator like this isn't going to have to worry about predators messing with it, it's the top predator in its ecosytem."

What's also exciting for scientists is the age of this fossil. The Lythronax is 80 million years old, yet is closely related to the T-Rex in its features. That means archeaologists better get digging. (via Live Science)

"There's a huge diversity of Tyrannosaur species waiting to be found out there."