Tyrannosauridae ruled the late Cretaceous for 24 million years

When and where

Tyrannosauridae stalked the land from roughly 90 million years ago to the mass extinction 66 million years ago. Their fossils turn up across western North America from Montana to Alberta, with additional finds in Mongolia and China. Every known member of the family lived in the last third of the Cretaceous Period, making them some of the last large meat-eating dinosaurs on Earth.

How we know

The first tyrannosaurid bone surfaced in the 1870s in Colorado, but the family itself gained formal recognition when Henry Fairfield Osborn classified Tyrannosaurus rex in 1905. Since then, more than a dozen genera have joined the group, including Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus, and Tarbosaurus. Museums across North America now hold dozens of specimens ranging from partial skulls to near-complete skeletons, with the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota preparing some of the finest examples. Field crews continue to find tyrannosaurid material in the Hell Creek Formation and the Nemegt Basin.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosauridae

What set it apart

Tyrannosauridae members share a heavy skull with fused nasal bones, deep-rooted teeth built for crushing bone, and a compact body plan that put enormous power behind every bite. Adults ranged from roughly 8 to 13 metres long and weighed between 1.8 and 9 tonnes, depending on the genus. Their forelimbs were famously tiny, with only two functional fingers, yet their hind legs carried them at speeds that may have exceeded 25 km/h in brief bursts. Unlike many other large theropod groups, the family shows a clear size trend over time: earlier forms such as Gorgosaurus stayed under 9 metres, while the last giants like T. rex pushed past 12 metres and packed the strongest bite force of any terrestrial animal ever studied.

For collectors and classrooms

A Tyrannosauridae figurine brings one of history's most powerful predators into the room. Hand-painted models capture the family's thick skull, serrated teeth, and compact frame with striking accuracy. Display a T. rex on a shelf or let younger palaeontologists stage a Cretaceous showdown on the carpet.

Browse the Tyrannosauridae collection on Amazon and find the right piece for your display here.