News Paleontology

Rarity of fossils of young tyrannosaurs explained

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

Paleontologists have unearthed only a few juvenile tyrannosaurs, and a new analysis suggests why: Unlike many other creatures both modern and ancient, a large percentage of those meat-eating dinosaurs survived into adulthood.

LIVE FAST, DIE OLD. More than 70 percent of the tyrannosaurs that reached age 2 lived to reach adulthood at age 14, a new study of fossils such as this Gorgosaurus suggests.