# Tyrannosaurus rex: everyone's favorite dinosaur, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938 "2010-06-29T15:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/61 "2010-06-30T00:19:15Z")
My daughter’s favorite was also Triceratops. “Because it has my name in it.” ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/62 "2010-06-30T00:24:00Z")
Team Triceratops here. In fact my 5-year-old son will now yell “Mom! Your favorite dinosaur!” whenever he sees one in a book or wherever and I am forced to come admire it to his satisfaction. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/63 "2010-06-30T00:30:35Z")
> [@BomTek](#): > > Fun [video](http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/06/dont_mention_velociraptors_to_this_guy.php) I just came across yesterday. It’s a comedian who asks the crowd what their favorite dinosaurs are and just destroys anyone who says something other than what he wants to hear. I fully expected to see someone had already posted it here, actually. Just wait for the part where someone mentions the velociraptor. > I always liked the Triceratops and the Parasaurolophus. > > ETA: Guy here. Still like the Trike. He says that the deinonychus is pretty much what the velociraptor should have been (in Jurassic Park) but without the cooler name, but a few minutes ago, didn’t he say that it was a mid sized predator, when the raptors in Jurassic Park were a lot smaller than that? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/64 "2010-06-30T00:58:58Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > He says that the deinonychus is pretty much what the velociraptor should have been (in Jurassic Park) but without the cooler name, but a few minutes ago, didn’t he say that it was a mid sized predator, when the raptors in Jurassic Park were a lot smaller than that? [_Deinonychus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deinonychus-scale.png) was mid-sized. The dromaeosaurs in _JP_ were large (i.e., human-sized or larger). TYrannosaurs and sauropods and allosaurs and most ceratopsians and stegosaurs and ankylosaurs and hadrosaurs were “freakin’ huge”. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/65 "2010-06-30T01:05:03Z")
Were there even velociraptors before Jurassic Park? I don’t remember them from my dinosuar studies as a child, and for some reason I’ve always believed they were made up for the movie. Of course, Pluto was still a planet when I was a kid… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/66 "2010-06-30T01:05:32Z")
But doesn’t he say that deinonychus could fight apatosauruses easily? They seem a little small for that. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/67 "2010-06-30T01:17:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The Pachy was a little skull smaller than a tennis ball. Maybe it was a juvenile. Must have been - [Pachycephalosaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachycephalosaurus) were 4-5 metres long (largest of the family). [Stegoceras](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegoceras), on the other hand, were about 2m long, and had, proportionately, much smaller heads. (Seriously…look at the tiny melon on that thing…it’s positively pinheaded!) > [@kittenblue](#): > > Were there even velociraptors before Jurassic Park? I don’t remember them from my dinosuar studies as a child, and for some reason I’ve always believed they were made up for the movie. Velociraptors were discovered in the 20s, and a specimen of (what appears to be) a raptor in battle with a protoceratops has been pretty iconic since it was discovered in 1971. (There’s some debate about just who’s the defender in the fight, if it was, in fact, a fight - it’s usually presented as the raptor attacking the protoceratops for food, but some theorize the raptor’s a female trying to keep the protoceratops from trampling her eggs.) And T. Rex is nowhere _near_ the coolest dinosaur. It’s not even the coolest large therapod (that’d be the Spinosaurus). My favourites are the duckbills, especially the ones with big crests. Parasaurolophus and [Lambeosaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeosaurus), particularly. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/68 "2010-06-30T01:20:15Z")
It’s T-Rex all the way and not Triceratops as the girls seem to like (and anyone who votes for Triceratops over T-Rex **is** a girl regardless of what their genitals might say). There is nothing that those jaws could not consume. With jaws like that who needs arms? If the T-Rex had lived until today would it’s arms have evolved out of existence through lack of usefulness? ---
**Author:** ![ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/69 "2010-06-30T01:26:04Z")
> **[The Best Dinosaur](http://www.thebestdinosaur.com/)** > > Stegosaurus is the best dinosaur. There is no other answer! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/70 "2010-06-30T01:33:42Z")
> [@mutantmoose](#): > > It’s T-Rex all the way and not Triceratops as the girls seem to like (and anyone who votes for Triceratops over T-Rex **is** a girl regardless of what their genitals might say). There is nothing that those jaws could not consume. With jaws like that who needs arms? > > If the T-Rex had lived until today would it’s arms have evolved out of existence through lack of usefulness? Damn right. Welcome to the winning team. [T-Rex, bitches](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/3642661392_5801c3b218.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/71 "2010-06-30T01:39:46Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > But doesn’t he say that deinonychus could fight apatosauruses easily? They seem a little small for that. If he did say that, he was wrong, regardless how big _Deinonychus_ was – _Apatosaurus_ lived about 35-40 million years before _Deinonychus_. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/72 "2010-06-30T01:42:21Z")
Hmm, so many ways to answer this thread… Should I go with: Eww sick, I’m calling Rule 34 on this thread. or… [Dinobots](http://img215.imageshack.us/i/6563c49e1837d9bb41b7a10fc027c7a6gr6.jpg/), bitches. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/73 "2010-06-30T02:27:09Z")
> [@mutantmoose](#): > > (and anyone who votes for Triceratops over T-Rex **is** a girl regardless of what their genitals might say). My Dove brand cucumber-and-green-tea scented antiperspirant says otherwise buddy! Wait…I mean… ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/74 "2010-06-30T04:28:14Z")
I could never really get into T-Rex, because one of my favorite movies as a kid was _The Land Before Time_, and T-Rex was just a little too scary. I like the great big sauropods, like [Supersaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersaurus) and the little-known [Amphicoelias](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicoelias), because they’re, well, so _big_. Like estimated at thirty feet tall and 200 feet long big. But my favorite character in _The Land Before Time_ was Spike, so I’m gonna go ahead and cast my vote for the noble [Stegosaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegosaurus). He’s spiky, but a pacifist at heart. And when I was a kid, my dad told me great time-travel stories which included ‘spike-tails’. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/75 "2010-06-30T04:46:11Z")
Actually, in my little kids book of dinos, I thought the Allosaurus was cooler than the T-Rex, even though smaller. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/76 "2010-06-30T04:50:19Z")
When I was growing up, dinosaurs were not the thing that excited kids. That didn’t seem to be a big deal until much later. Jurassic Park sent it into the stratosphere, but it was starting to bubble under just beforehand. A friend-of-a-friend was a stop motion animator, who made a series of short clips about dinosaurs that aired on local TV around 1989, and it was interesting that he made his T-Rex stand upright and drag its tail, just as it was popularly portrayed elsewhere. It’s a shame that Jurassic Park came along very soon after and showed him up a little. He works for Weta now (he designed some of the dinosaurs in King Kong). Anyway, I always liked the Stegosaurus. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/77 "2010-06-30T07:37:32Z")
Deinonychus was my favourite until it was discovered that they had feathers, now they look like [attack chickens](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Deinonychus_im_NHM_Wien.JPG). ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/78 "2010-06-30T10:57:44Z")
In the Big Book of Dinosaurs we had when I was a child, there was a rather graphic and scary (to a preschooler) 2-page illustration of a Triceratops in battle with a T-Rex–stabbing it in the abdomen with its two long horns. When I was little, I thought that this was a representation of an actual historical fight, that fossils had been found this way or something. My mom painted a mural of it on my big brother’s bedroom wall, with a pteradon flying overhead and two little turtles down in the corner by the door. Brontosaurus was on another wall. When we left that house years later, we couldn’t bear to paint over them, and put up paneling. Unless a subsequent owner of the house has taken down the paneling, they are there still. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/79 "2010-06-30T11:52:35Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Gotta be the Pterodactyl for me. It can _fly_. It was my favorite in my plastic dinosaur set. I’m with Ellen Cherry! There’s a Pterodactyl mounted above Sue at the Chicago Field Museum. Awesome. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938/80 "2010-06-30T13:08:27Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Hmm, so many ways to answer this thread… > > Should I go with: Eww sick, I’m calling Rule 34 on this thread. No. > [@Superhal](#): > > or… > > [Dinobots](http://img215.imageshack.us/i/6563c49e1837d9bb41b7a10fc027c7a6gr6.jpg/), bitches. This is, of course, the correct answer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyrannosaurus-rex-everyones-favorite-dinosaur-right/544938.md?page=5)