King Tyrant by Mark Witton

King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex

by Mark P. Witton

Princeton University Press 2025

It's been 120 years since American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn named the prehistoric beast he'd described and named Tyrannosaurus rex as “greatly exceed[ing] that of any carnivorous land animal hitherto described.” That 1905 name, “tyrant king lizard” reflected the initial moments of awe that must have accompanied seeing the fossil hints at just how terrible this long-dead creature was, but the complacency of the blighted present age just naturally expects that a century has calmed and dwarfed such early reactions.

But the reverse has happened. Tyrannosaurus rex is one of those paleontological impressions that actually gets stronger with every passing decade of research. The creature has had help, of course, including a good deal of help from Hollywood, which has found T. rex irresistible. But the key amazement is that the fossils themselves are stunning all by themselves, making T. rex “one of the ultimate examples of dinosaurs at their most spectacular,” as paleontologist Mark Witton writes in his beautiful new book King Tyrant: A Natural History of Tyrannosaurus rex.

The book is a lovely, lavishly illustrated thing from Princeton University Press, full of artwork reconstructing every aspect of the T. rex world, its appearance and physiology, its vocalizations, mating and parenting habits, and its horrifying predation successes. Witton lays out the basics of his field's science and procedures, and then he's off to the races with a narrative that manages to be headlong in its readability without sacrificing any of the wonkery that's so dear to professionals:

T. rex skulls hint at reduced ornament in other regions as well. In adults, the cornual processes above the eyes are not, as they are in albertosaurines and alioramins, horn-shaped: they are blunt, flattened, and boss-like. The lacrimal cornual process has an upper surface marked by parallel-sided ridges and grooves, recalling the bones under bovid horns where bony lineation aligns with horn growth trajectories … Further cornified sheath correlates occur on the side of the lacrimal and postorbidal, which are covered in impressions of branching blood vessels, much like those found under bird beaks and bovid horns.

Inexperienced general-interest lay readers will be amazed by just how much paleontologists either know or can confidently infer about every area of T. rex life, and Witton's own enthusiasm shines through on every page as he uses the latest material and research to fuel his conjectures, all while steadily, patiently pulling against some of those pervasive Hollywood characterizations:

Whether roaming short distances or long range, T. rex would have met other king tyrants. It's difficult not to wonder what happened when they did. Were they an irascible species, to the extent of preferring solitary existences, or were they gregarious individuals that sought out the company of others? Might Tyrannosaurus have even lived in groups or worked together when hunting prey? Theropods forming foraging groups or packs is a very popular and exciting concept among many dinosaur fans, and media promotion of certain tyrannosaur discoveries purportedly supporting these ideas has given this concept a strong foothold in T. rex hype.

A full-grown T. rex was as long as a city bus, a towering mass of pure muscle propelling a tooth-filled head the size of a refrigerator, so even though readers are probably not experts, they can safely assume that these creatures weren't gregarious people persons – but since the field of T. rex research is vigorously growing all the time, you never know. Certainly King Tyrant will have readers wondering about this and dozens of other possibilities.

 Steve Donoghue is a founding editor of Open Letters Monthly. His book criticism has appeared in The Washington Post, The American Conservative, The Spectator, The Wall Street Journal, The National, and the Daily Star. He has written regularly for The Boston Globe, the Vineyard Gazette, and the Christian Science Monitor and is the Books editor of Georgia’s Big Canoe News