Before T. Rex

Of all the dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex was always my favorite. T. Rex is by far the most dominant creature to ever walk the earth and I would bet the most famous. Well, everything we thought we knew about T. Rex has just been turned upside down as a new species of dinosaur has been discovered in China. This tyrannosaurid, known as Raptorex, lived about 130 million years ago and is an early relative of the mighty T. Rex. Unlike T. Rex, this guy stood about 9 feet tall at full maturity and weighed as little as 140 pounds. In an unusual twist, the fossils were smuggled out of China and sent to the United States where they were purchased by a private collector.