Which came first: the chicken… or the T-Rex?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Sixty-five million years ago, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was North America’s apex predator. But… who was king BEFORE the king?
Enter Darla Zelenitsky and Jared Voris from the University of Calgary.
They identified a new dinosaur species called Khankhuuluu which lived eighty-six million years ago. Its skull resembled that of the T-Rex, though it was much smaller.
Through physical comparison between the two species, the research team concluded it is the T-Rex’s closest ancestor!
Studying the Khankhuuluu provides a window into the evolution of Tyrannosaurs.
Well, what do you know? Even the big bad T-Rex started out small!
Reference: Voris, J. T., Zelenitsky, D. K., Kobayashi, Y., Modesto, S. P., Therrien, F., Tsutsumi, H., Chinzorig, T., & Tsogtbaatar, K.. A new Mongolian Tyrannosauroid and the Evolution of Eutyrannosauria. Nature News (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08964-6