Rock Doc

What are the odds?

That was my thought when I read recent pieces about a very special fossil from the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota.

Here’s some background: if you saw the movie Jurassic Park, you may think that Tyrannosaurus rex was the biggest predator of all time. That’s certainly the way the movie portrays the 40-foot-long dinosaur that could weigh seven tons. But there’s actually been a long debate in scientific circles about whether T. rex was a predator chasing down live prey or a scavenger feasting on dead carcasses.

A number of scientists have thought that T. rex was too huge t...