The Tyrannosaur Chronicles
The Biology of the Tyrant Dinosaurs
Download image
ISBN10: 1472911288
ISBN13: 9781472911285
Paperback
304 Pages
$18.00
CA$24.00
Tyrannosaurs are, by some margin, the most famous dinosaurs in the world. Popular among children and adults alike, it is the only dinosaur many people can name. The Tyrannosaurus was an impressive beast, it topped ten tons, was more than forty feet (fifteen meters) long, and had the largest head and most powerful bite of any land animal, ever. The Tyrannosaurus and other tyrannosaurs are fascinating animals and perhaps the best-studied of all dinosaur groups. They started small, just a couple of yards long, and over the course of 70 million years evolved into giant, meat-slicing bone crushers.
New types of tyrannosaurs were discovered every year between 2010 and 2014, greatly revising what we know about how they lived, bred, fed, and died. The Tyrannosaur Chronicles tracks the rise of these dinosaurs, and presents the latest research into their biology, showing off more than just their impressive statistics—tyrannosaurs had feathers, may have hunted in groups, and fought and even ate one another. Indeed, David Hone tells the evolutionary story of the group through their anatomy, ecology, and behavior, exploring how they came to be the dominant terrestrial predators of the Mesozoic—and more recently, one of the great icons of biology.
Reviews
Praise for The Tyrannosaur Chronicles
"For readers who got hooked on tyrannosaurs as 5-year-olds, and want to know more at 15 or 50, this book is a useful introduction to some of the most wonderfully terrifying animals ever to walk the Earth."—The Wall Street Journal
"The Tyrannosaur Chronicles will engage the casual dinosaur enthusiast and the reader desiring in-depth explanations and bibliographic detail. Hone’s careful speculation, his clear prose and his occasional whimsy . . . make this an illuminating and enjoyable guide to the lifestyle of everyone’s favorite theropod."—The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"If most of what you know about Tyrannosaurs is based on old Japanese movies or the Jurassic Park franchise, there will be many surprises . . . a welcome touchstone volume for lovers of the terrible lizards."—Natural History Magazine
"Our fascination with Tyrannosaurus rex, the aptly named king of the dinosaurs, has been fed by Jurassic Park and other films, but the reality is equally entrancing . . . Hone successfully integrates two equally fascinating stories: how our knowledge of these fabulous creatures was pieced together over time and what we can infer about them."—Kirkus Reviews
"Hone’s book is an in-depth portrait that treats the entire [Tyrannosaurus rex] group in four sections focused on, respectively, the definition, morphology, ecology, and future study of these ‘king’ theropods (i.e., ‘wild-foots’—carnivorous dinosaurs) . . . He happily asserts his continuing fascination with tyrannosaurs and mightily piques ours."—Booklist
"Hone, a lecturer in ecology at Queen Mary University of London, lets his dinosaur-obsessed inner child run wild in this well-organized, up-to-date fact book about Tyrannosaurus rex and its 25 or so near relatives . . . Hone provides a solid meal to feed the popular fascination with these tyrant lizards, easily digestible but made from ingredients that, at least in paleontological terms, are quite fresh."—Publishers Weekly