Science & Technology

In the Spring of 1987, amateur palaeontologist Stan Sacrison was exploring outcrops near the town of Buffalo, South Dakota, when he came across a large pelvis weathering out of a sandy cliff face 100 feet above the prairie.

During that summer, Stan spent his free time attempting to uncover what was obviously the skeleton of a large dinosaur. Five years later, a team of skilled workers spent 30,000 hours using miniature sand blasters to remove the rock and earth that encased Stan’s fragile bones.

What they found was the second most complete T. rex ever found (65% bone). Manchester Musuem now has a cast of this magnificent specimen.

Factosaurs:

• Skeleton: 199 bones have been recovered, (70% of Stan's skeleton)
• Skull: Stan’s is the best T. rex skull ever discovered, virtually complete and in pristine condition. Examination reveals hinge and slip joints in the skull that allowed Stan to open his jaw wide, increasing his bite area – just as a snake can swallow prey larger than its head (cranial kinesis).
• Teeth: Stan had 58 teeth, each bearing tiny serrations to cut through flesh and shaped to break through bone. Unlike mammals, dinosaurs grew new teeth throughout their lifetimes
• Jaws: lower jaws closed inside the upper, like giant shears, enabling a T. rex to bite through even the leg bone of another T. rex!
• Behaviour: scientists believe that Stan lived his life in a family group. Hatching from an egg, Stan would have been cared for by his parents, who taught him and his siblings to hunt. Eventually, Stan left the family group and found his own mate with whom he probably spent the rest of his life. Stan fought many battles - some with other T. rex!
• Injuries: Several healed puncture wounds on Stan’s skull also suggest that T. rex fought each other. One serious injury left Stan with a broken neck - and probably horrible headaches! The most interesting wound is a one inch hole at the back of Stan’s skull - which a T.rex tooth fits perfectly. Thankfully, Stan lived to fight another day.
• How he died: Whether it was old age or disease, Stan died on the sand bar of a stream. As hiss carcass rotted in the sun, scavengers pulled apart much of the skeleton and skull. Spring floods eventually covered the bones, which remained buried for 65 million years.
• Gender: Analysis of 30 T. rex skeletons reveals two types: a robust type with a wider pelvis (female), and a smaller, gracile type with lighter bones (male). Stan’s skeleton is gracile so scientists believe he was male.
• Habitat: Well preserved leaves and a few palm fronds found with Stan have given researchers new information about the environment and climate in which he lived.
• Birds v dinosaurs: Scientists have long noted similarities, suggesting birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs. Stan’s feet are very bird-like and bones in his neck and body are thin-walled with a honeycomb structure – much like birds today.