Wording of this Handout:
Trick question: How big was tyrannosaurus rex?
Answer: It depends on how old he was!
Every animal in the world starts tiny. T. Rex was no exception. Before he was born he was so small you would not be able to see him unless you used a microscope! After that he was inside an egg so he was about the size of a chicken. After that he hatched, and grew, and GREW, until he was about 15 meters long (50 feet), and 6.5 meters high (20 feet tall) . He also weighed about 10 tons, and his teeth were 15 cm long (about 6 inches). (He would have made a great rugby player!)
Was T. Rex fierce and dangerous?
It is impossible to know for sure. One clue which may tell us what he was like is his teeth. He has lots of them, but they don't have deep roots, so if he attacked another animal and tried to rip its skin and bones, T. Rex's teeth would have come out. It seems that what he usually did was eat already fallen animals, or simply graze on the trees and plants.
What did T. Rex eat?
When God created the dinosaurs, they and all the other animals in the world ate nothing but plants, but Adam and Eve disobeyed God, so God brought a change to the whole world, and many animals began to include meat in their diet. So at first, when the T. Rex was created, it was a plant-eater. That was about 6000 years ago, but soon after that it began to eat other animals.
How long ago did dinosaurs live?
Not very long really, only a few thousand years. In fact, some dinosaur bones have been found with blood cells still in them, which shows that they can't be very old. (If you want to know more, go to the Answers in Genesis web site.