AMNH 5027
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| Catalog number: | AMNH 5027 | |
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| Species: | Tyrannosaurus rex | |
| Age: | 65 million years | |
| Place discovered: | Hell Creek Formation, Montana | |
| Date discovered: | 1908 | |
| Discovered by: | Barnum Brown | |
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[edit] Discovery and Classification
AMNH (which stands for American Museum of Natural History) 5027 was found and described by Barnum Brown in 1908. At the time of discovery, a complete cervical (neck vertebrae) series for Tyrannosaurus was not previously known, so it was this specimen that brought the short, stocky tyrannosaur neck to light. Compared to later specimens (BMNH R7994 and FMNH PR2081, for instance) the cervical series of AMNH 5027 is much more gracile, so with later discoveries the distinction between tyrannosaurid necks and the necks of carnosaurs became more obvious.[1]
[edit] A Famous Mount
In 1915, a dramatic display was proposed to showcase the museum's tyrannosaur specimens. Designed by E.S. Christman, the scene depicted a rearing Tyrannosaurus (AMNH 5027) snapping at another (AMNH 973) cowering Tyrannosaurus, as they fight over the remains of a hadrosaur, described at the time as Trachodon:
"It is early morning along the shore of a Cretaceous lake four [we now know to be sixty five] million years ago. A herbivorous dinosaur Trachodon venturing from the water for a breakfast of succulent vegetation has been caught and partly devoured by a giant flesh eating Tyrannosaurus. As this monster crouches over the carcass, busy dismembering it, another Tyrannosaurus is attracted to the scene. Approaching, it rises nearly to its full height to grapple the more fortunate hunter and dispute the prey. The crouching figure reluctantly stops eating and accepts the challenge, partly rising to spring on its adversary. The psychological moment of tense inertia before the combat was chosen to best show positions of the limbs and bodies, as well as to picture an incident in the life history of these giant reptiles."[2]
However, the Cretaceous Dinosaur Hall was too small to accomodate this dramatic display, and AMNH 5027 was mounted by itself as the central attraction of the hall. The fore-arms of Tyrannosaurus were not well documented and the hands were unknown, so for the sake of the display, the fore-arms of AMNH 5027 were given three fingers, based on the forelimbs of Allosaurus (the more allosaur-like arms were replaced several years later when better fossils of tyrannosaurid arms were found). The mount retained a rearing pose similar to the initial proposal. By the 1980s it was generally accepted that such a pose would have been anatomically impossible in life, and the skeleton was re-mounted in a more accurate, horizontal pose during a renovation of the museum's dinosaur halls in the early 1990s. The mount can still be seen on display on the fourth floor of the American Museum.
[edit] References
- ^ .Kenneth Carpenter & Philip Currie (1990). Dinosaur Systematics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43810-1. Chapter 10 Variation in Tyrannosaurus rex, p 143.
- ^ Brown, B. 1915. "Tyrannosaurus, a Cretaceous carnivorous dinosaur, the largest flesh-eater that ever lived." Scientific American, 63(15): 322-323.
[edit] See Also
PaleoDB Classification.
AMNH Article on the First Tyrannosaur specimens
Artist Scott Hartman's reconstruction of AMNH 5027
