The Nanotyrannus is a newly confirmed genus of therapod dinosaur that lived alongside the Tyrannosaurus rex at the end of the Cretaceous period. For years, scientists debated over whether this smaller was a teenage T. rex or its own distinct species. In 2025, the researchers at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences determined that the theropod in their famous fossil “The Dueling Dinosaurs” was fully-grown at the time of death. This discovery settled the debate once and for all. Now that the two species are officially split, our understanding of both the Nanotyrannus and the T. rex are forever changed.
The Nanotyrannus is a newly confirmed genus of therapod dinosaur that lived alongside the Tyrannosaurus rex at the end of the Cretaceous period. For years, scientists debated over whether this smaller was a teenage T. rex or its own distinct species. In 2025, the researchers at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences determined that the theropod in their famous fossil “The Dueling Dinosaurs” was fully-grown at the time of death. This discovery settled the debate once and for all. Now that the two species are officially split, our understanding of both the Nanotyrannus and the T. rex are forever changed.