The Tyrannosaur Chronicles: The Biology of the Tyrant Dinosaurs

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. He first offers necessary background, such as information about modern changes in naming and organizing conventions, as well as brief explanations of cladistics, morphology, and phylogenetics. Next he dives into the physical evidence, dividing the material into the kind of topics any children would recognize while giving the level of detail an adult reader requires. Hone runs through what bones and tracks tell researchers about how tyrannosauroid bodies looked, moved, grew, and functioned; how tyrannosaurs hunted their prey; and which other large carnivores existed alongside them in their Mesozoic environment. He uses current research but conservatively keeps his narrative clear by focusing on ideas that match established consensus. Similarly, illustrator Scott Hartman meticulously renders a traditional view of bones covered in skin rather than the scales and feathers described by some recent analyses. 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. Illus. (July)