The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World: The Definitive Dinosaur Encyclopedia with Stunning Illustrations, Embark on a Prehistoric Quest!

by Steve Brusatte

The seat of Rex’s power was its head. It was a killing machine, a torture chamber for its prey, and an evil mask all in one. At around five feet long from snout to ear, the skull was nearly the length of an average person. More than fifty knife-sharp teeth made for a sinister smile. There were little nipping teeth at the front of the snout and a row of serrated spikes the size and shape of bananas running along the sides of the upper and lower jaws. Muscles to open and close those jaws bulged out of the back of the head near the bottle-cap-size hole that served as the ear. Each eyeball was the size of a grapefruit. In front of it, but covered in skin, was a massive sinus system that helped to lighten the head, and then big fleshy horns at the tip of the snout. Small horns protruded in front of and behind each eye, and another stuck downwards from each cheek—gnarly knobs of bone covered in keratin, the same stuff that makes up our fingernails. Imagine this hideous visage as your last memory before the teeth came crushing down, breaking your bones. Many a dinosaur met its end that way.