A T-Rex fossil collected last fall is being assembled at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. Officials are calling the new female T-Rex “Murray”. It was found in Montana Hell Creek formation which is the same geological layer that the famous T-Rex named “Sue” came from.
Peter Larson is the president of the institute. He says Murray is a temporary name. She is 50% bone count complete and is 13 feet at the hips and 42 feet long. Larson says Murray lived a tough life.
“I just tweeted some pictures of the skull where you can see a puncture wound in front of the mouth and three big scratches or gouges in the bone above the nose. These show that these animals were very active, and active predators, and fought among themselves because those three gauges are actually the bite marks from another Trex,” says Larson.
Larson says the T-Rex bite marks weren’t the likely cause of death. He says they showed signs of healing. He adds that it’s unusual to find a cause of death in a dinosaur, but old age seems to be the biggest factor. He says Murray’s bone mounting will take about a year and a half to complete.