How big was T. rex? Size, weight and bite of the tyrant king
Tyrannosaurus rex reached 12 meters and 9 tons. Real size, bite force and speed of the most famous dinosaur.
Size and weight in numbers
The largest complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton, nicknamed Sue, measures 12.3 meters long and the animal weighed about 8.5 to 9 tons — as much as one and a half African elephants. It stood nearly 4 meters tall at the hips, and its skull alone was over 1.4 meters long with banana-sized teeth up to 30 centimeters including the root.
T. rex lived 68 to 66 million years ago in western North America, very close to the end of the dinosaur age. Young tyrannosaurs grew incredibly fast, gaining up to 2 kilograms per day as teenagers, which is why adults reached such mass in only 20 to 30 years of life.
Bite, speed and senses
Tyrannosaurus had the strongest bite of any land animal ever: estimates reach 35,000 newtons, enough to crush a car and punch through Triceratops armor and bone. Unlike movie monsters, it likely walked at 15 to 20 kilometers per hour and ran only in short bursts — its power was ambush, not marathon chasing.
Its senses were excellent: forward-facing eyes gave binocular vision like a hawk, and smell bulbs the size of grapefruits could scent prey kilometers away. New research also suggests lips covered its teeth, so the classic grinning skull look is probably wrong.
- Length: up to 12–13 meters
- Weight: 8–9 tons
- Bite force: ~35,000 newtons
- Lived: 68–66 million years ago
- Top speed: ~20 km/h in bursts