It’s time to let go of what we think T. rex should look like
In 2016, paleontologist Robert R. Reisz gave a lecture that would literally change the face of Tyrannosaurus rex forever. Reisz presented research supporting the idea that T. rex had lips (soft tissue that cover the mouth), contrary to the exposed rows of teeth that have traditionally been shown in science artwork and media for the last several decades. T. rex lips have widely been accepted by scientists since 2016 and, combined with other recent ideas about the animal, have led to the most accurate reconstructions of the animals to date. For some, however, lips are just the latest attempt by scientists to ruin the image of T. rex they grew up with.
Popular ideas of what T. rex looked like, such as the one that appears in “Jurassic Park,” are often scientifically outdated and based on hypermasculine marketing intended to sell toys to boys. The more that scientists learn about T. rex, the more the image softens and begins to resemble an actual animal that could have lived on Earth. Letting go of masculine imagery that is steeped in nostalgia allows both scientists and the public to imagine more interesting depictions of the animal and allows the image of T. rex to evolve long after its own extinction.
For centuries, dinosaurs have captured the imagination of scientists and the public alike. The most effective way to imagine what extinct organisms looked like is through paleoart; paleoartists incorporate the most up-to-date knowledge about animals like T. rex to depict realistic scenes. Masculine tropes such as aggressive postures and fighting behaviors have been a staple of paleoart since the beginning of the field in the 19th century. Heavily inspired by biblical ideas of life before the Great Flood, early paleoart features fierce creatures locked in constant struggle with one another. Fighting motifs have always been a way to market dinosaurs to the public; museums still commission dynamic paleoart in the hopes of bringing more people into their halls.
Scientifically described in 1905, T. rex was from the beginning represented as a masculine creature. Its name translates to “tyrant king of the lizards” in Latin, and when the first T. rex skeleton was mounted at the American Museum of Natural History, scientists chose an erect, tail-dragging stance, evocative of a lumbering boxing champion or lizard rearing back to attack. In his 1968 book The Great Dinosaur Hunters and their Discoveries, paleontologist Edwin H. Colbert declared the mount to be a “magnificent result of great effort on the part of many men. […] Perhaps this gives an indication as to why some men spend their lives in the search of dinosaurs.” Notably, Colbert refers to paleontologists and dinosaur hunters as “men” throughout the book, and even though he himself would have known women paleontologists, it seems he didn’t believe that women were equally capable of being inspired by such an exhibit.
Research in the late 20th century suggested that dinosaurs were warm-blooded and highly active, sparking a Dinosaur Renaissance in paleoart. T. rex went from a tail-dragging beast to a sleek predator, complete with rippling muscles and athletic poses. Out of this renaissance came “Jurassic Park,” arguably the most famous piece of dinosaur media. The T. rex reconstruction designed for the film was intentionally made terrifying, and this is the design that popularized the image of the lipless T. rex. Masculine images from the Dinosaur Renaissance and “Jurassic Park” have become solidified in the public’s imagination, leading to “cultural inertia” in the way that most people imagine T. rex looked. Dinosaur toys are loosely based on scientific paleoart, but popular designs, like the T. rex from “Jurassic Park,” are used long after they become scientifically outdated.
STEM toys, including dinosaurs, are disproportionately marketed to boys. In 2015, Hasbro released a line of “Jurassic World” dinosaur toys, listing them under the “boys’ toys” section of their website. In the descriptions of the toys, the dinosaurs are referred to as “he” and “him,” even though the dinosaurs in the “Jurassic World” and “Jurassic Park” franchises are canonically female. Wildly inaccurate children’s toys still have the power of the name T. rex behind them, however, and nostalgic adults who grew up with the toys are reluctant to accept the T. rex that scientists now believe existed. Much of the resistance to the evolution of T. rex imagery comes from the perception that the dinosaur looks less fierce when brought up to date with recent research. Much of the language surrounding these critiques is explicitly gendered, from complaints that T. rex has been “emasculated” to punny headlines announcing that the animal probably had lips.
The most accurate reconstruction of a T. rex to date was unveiled in 2018 at the Field Museum. The exhibit includes a new mount of their famous T. rex skeleton “Sue,” and in 2020, the museum unveiled a life-size model of the dinosaur as well. The skeletal mount is one of the first to include the gastralia, bones that provided support for the abdomen on the underside of the T. rex between the sternum and the pelvis. Gastralia have not always been mounted in the past for two reasons: They are a challenge to mount, and they expand the silhouette and make T. rex look a lot chunkier. Most people want to see an agile killing machine, and the barrel-like torso of a T. rex with gastralia doesn’t match up with this image. The life-size model of Sue is similarly barrel-shaped and possesses lips. It also bears a Labrador retriever-like expression and a much smaller dinosaur in its mouth, like a dog bringing back a toy. The effect is much softer than most T. rex enthusiasts are used to, and the effect is more realistic than hyper-masculine.
Modern paleoartists have gone even further in reimagining T. rex, creating speculative reconstructions inspired by modern animals. We know that close relatives of T. rex had feathers, so even though there is no evidence for feathers on T. rex, it isn’t a stretch of the imagination for paleoart to include them. Paleoartists have speculated on the color of T. rex in recent years too; where traditional T. rex art took inspiration from green and grey reptiles, modern paleoartists often look to birds (sometimes referred to in paleontological circles as “avian dinosaurs”) for their inspiration. For example, paleoartist Danielle Dufault has illustrated a Daspletosaurus (close relative of T. rex) with mallard-like plumage, adding a whimsical touch to the otherwise fierce predator.
Another recent trend in paleoart is to speculate on features that wouldn’t necessarily be preserved in the fossil record. In their 2012 book All Yesterdays, C.M. Kösemen, Darren Naish, and John Conway sparked an influx of paleoart featuring skin folds and fleshy crests. These soft tissues rarely preserve, so even if a complete skeleton has been found, it may not reflect what the animal looked like in life. Much like gastralia and lips, these features reduce the scare factor of T. rex paleoart.
As paleontologists learn more about the life and evolution of T. rex, recent reconstructions too will become outdated. Even though the public may demand toothy monsters, paleoartists are letting go of nostalgic T. rex imagery and embracing creative sources of inspiration like never before. Through paleoart, T. rex has been allowed to evolve in the public’s imagination long after its extinction.
Image credit: Sue the T. Rex, taken at the Field Museum, 8 January 2008 (Wikimedia Commons | CC BY-SA 3.0)
