Thomas Carr Profile Banner
Thomas Carr Profile
Thomas Carr

@TyrannosaurCarr

Followers
9,992
Following
2,797
Media
116
Statuses
2,688

I am a vertebrate paleontologist who studies the ontogeny and phylogeny of dinosaurs, especially tyrannosauroids.

Kenosha, WI
Joined September 2013
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Hector the Deinonychus sold at acution for $12.4 million; I can't imagine any paleontologist who studies dromaeosaurids is happy about this:
13
100
571
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Earlier this morning in the Hall of Horns and Teeth: yours truly and MOR 08. Photo: Lee Hall.
Tweet media one
6
66
523
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
7 months
This is why the commercial trade of dinosaur fossils should go extinct - the obscene practice of putting the rarest growth stages up for sale for extortion-level prices:
11
106
477
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
The best articulated Deinonychus skeleton belongs in a museum, not on the auction block. Good grief, Christie's: just say no.
8
35
343
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Instead of hating the rich, perhaps the lesson of losing T. rexes and Hector the Deinonychus to extortion-level auctions is to lobby our representatives to consider policy that protects world heritage grade fossils from the open market.
28
41
339
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Another T. rex for science to lose:
20
75
310
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 months
Nanotyrannus is SUS; juvenile T. rex are RIZZ.
25
61
310
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
The auctions of spectacular dinosaur fossils like T. rex and Deinonychus shows our culture has turned its back on the values of science. That polarity is civilization-threatening - a willful lobotomization.
8
51
278
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
How juvenile and adult T. rex compare, from above!
Tweet media one
4
71
264
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
One of the most amazing fossils of this summer's field season to the Hell Creek Formation: a complete avisaurid tarsometatarsus!
Tweet media one
6
40
265
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
The stupidity of dinosaur fossil auctions at prices no museum can afford on their own: the $4 to 6 million for the Christie's Deinonychus for me equals ~133 to 200 years of fieldwork.
3
29
225
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Something a bit different...
Tweet media one
4
41
181
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
"Tyrannosaurus regina" + "T. imperator" = SUS
5
23
160
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Yours truly with the upside-down skull of a small Triceratops (the width of the frill is indicated by my fingers) that I found last night on Bureau of Land Management-administered lands!
Tweet media one
4
14
161
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
The Carthage Institute of Paleontology's star specimen of the 2022 field season. These are the fragments picked up from the surface - hopefully there's more in the ground!
Tweet media one
2
38
159
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
For the benefit of education, the growth series of Tyrannosaurus rex:
Tweet media one
1
52
156
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Tyrannosaurus rex: It's the Real Thing!
3
9
152
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 months
Vertebrate paleontology's central weakness is its failure to persuade the public that vertebrate fossils - specifically dinosaur fossils - should not be commodities. The thriving art auction market in dinosaur fossils is, arguably, our own damn fault.
3
21
143
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
T. rexing in the time of Covid-19: yours truly today at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum (in the gallery before opening & collections for the rest of the day). Tomorrow: Bozeman!
Tweet media one
3
19
134
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
A reliable source tells me that there's about 13 scientifically important Deinonychus specimens in museum & university collections. Two additional specimens, including the recently auctioned Hector, are privately owned - so 13% of the total sample is currently lost to science.
3
12
131
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 months
"Nanotyrannus!!!" OK, boomer.🙄
10
17
132
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
6 years
Some more cool photos of my T. rex rampage this morning. Photos by @AmyLynnAtwater
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
1
23
122
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
Coming soon to an SVP meeting in Brisbane:
Tweet media one
2
11
122
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Whoa: Carr (2020; ) is rated as the 4th most downloaded article of 2020 for The PeerJ (today's count: 1,943)!
7
26
115
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Tyrannosaurs, if we are to make any sense of them, must be thought of, simultaneously, as terrestrial alligators and flightless birds.
6
16
112
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
A mistake was caught in the adult T. rex chart - here's the corrected version!
Tweet media one
1
32
103
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
From what I know of its sample size, Deinonychus specimens really shouldn't be sold off for the price of a mansion...
1
6
107
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Sweet: this year's SVP meeting poster and audio file uploaded!
Tweet media one
4
12
94
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Hey kids, this isn't how to get the professionals to reply to your DMs: "Please talk to me cuck"
13
11
98
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
This one speaks for itself...think of it as an advisable New Year's resolution if you're on the opposite side of it.
Tweet media one
0
20
98
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Turtles (NO LIPS) + Crocodylians (NO LIPS) + Birds (NO LIPS) = NO LIPS is the null hypothesis for the ancestral condition for archosaurs. Ergo: T. rex (NO LIPS). Beyond that, the similarity test of facial bone texture between tyrannosaurids with living crocs is passed. WTHMDYW?
26
11
99
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
A postcard to commemorate 1,000 downloads of the T. rex ontogeny article in the PeerJ ()!
Tweet media one
0
27
97
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
Standing and talking: yesterday morning standing at the SVP podium & talking T. rex ontogeny!
Tweet media one
1
14
91
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Religion is the Nanotyrannus of human activity.
6
7
89
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Today's joke of the day: If any dinosaur had lips, it was Nanotyrannus!
8
5
87
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Currently working on my first skeletal drawing since Appalachiosaurus - a lot more work involved than I first recalled! Yes, the new one is of a tyrannosaurid!
4
8
85
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Fun fact: this Fall semester the Carthage College Paleontology program has 11 students, 0.42% of the student body, making it one of the largest undergraduate paleo programs in the US, Canada, and the UK! We attract students because we offer field, lab, and research experience!
4
5
82
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 months
"Gorgosaurus" is sus; "Albertosaurus libratus" is slaps!
11
11
86
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
A perfect example of the misalignment problem between the behavior of scientists and the ethics of science: the scientific study of a privately-owned Tyrannosaurus rex:
1
14
77
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
When you're a tyrannosaur worker and you wake up at 5 am to catch a 9:30 am flight, you know you're headed to the Museum of the Rockies to study T. rex and D. horneri for four weeks!
1
1
82
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
Today my crew brought back a T. rex thumb claw from the Hell Creek Formation!
4
5
81
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 months
Upon learning this my enthusiasm for the new oviraptorosaurian taxon has completely deflated; it matters where the money goes, especially if it supports the commercial fossil market in dinosaurs:
6
16
80
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
Prima donna, obstructionist, fake science, defeated: four more lines for the old CV.
3
3
77
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
From the lips of a 7-year-old (!): "Nanotyrannus - what a loser."
3
10
76
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
The student who wants to learn is preferable to the one who thinks they have all the answers.
2
5
77
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Yeehaw! A few minutes ago I submitted a manuscript that I've long had on ice to a premier journal in our field! Tyrannosauroids? Sure.
4
2
74
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
It was a great pleasure to have presented today the talk "Tyrannosaurus rex: insights into the growth of the tyrant king and modern challenges faced by paleontology" at the weekly meeting of Carthage College's Paleontology Club!
0
2
75
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Tyrannosaurus rex is T. rex is T. rex is T. rex; by any other name: T. rex.
2
7
73
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
T. rex is not Nanotyrannus, but Nanotyrannus is T. rex.
4
9
74
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
6 months
Paleo crisis at Carthage. The grant in this quote would NOT have provided salary: "A $440,000 grant funding proposal....would have paid for the technician’s salary for the next four to five years, was declined, said Timmerman"
3
24
74
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 months
As with art, when paleontologists buy dino fossils off the shelf then the entire provenance must be published: how much paid, the commmercial entity, the entire chain of ownership, with names & dates. The common euphemism of "fossil was acquired by [institution name]" should end.
2
10
72
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
6 years
A pretty good 2018 field season; some highlights: 4 pachycephalosaur specimens, 1 alvarezsaurid thumb claw, 1 hybodont shark tooth, 2 Triceratops braincases, many plant fossils, and 4 K/Pg impact layer localities!
1
4
68
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Finally saw Prehistoric Planet - overall OK, but what's with all the lips and cheeks on the dinos?! I thought the tyrannosaurs could've used facelifts (I know them too well not to be distracted by all the little inaccuracies). Regardless, the next level of realism was achieved!
7
4
69
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Closing in...
Tweet media one
2
7
69
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
6 years
Quote of the day: "Tyrannosaurus is the most superb carnivorous mechanism among the terrestrial Vertebrata, in which raptorial destructive power and speed are combined; it represents the climax in the evolution of a series which began with...Anchisaurus" H F. Osborn, 1916.
1
14
68
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Jurassic World/Camp Cretaceous dinosaurs are to accuracy as Jar Jar Binks is to the legacy of the Star Wars franchise.
4
7
66
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Small juvenile T. rex (CMNH 7541) skull in left lateral view; temporal region restored (ecto, epi, qj, qu, sq).
Tweet media one
0
8
65
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
The most fitting analogy to the loss of dinosaur fossils to the market and private ownership is the burning of rare books: both are unique sets of information that are irreversibly lost.
7
16
63
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
As a vertebrate paleontologist who studies tyrannosaur evolution, I can unequivocally say that a hug from Supergirl would be the best possible moment in any T. rex's life! @melissabenoist
@melissabeupdate
MelissaBenoistUpdate
5 years
Melissa Benoist shares new photos from the Supergil set "This is the greatest day of my life 🦖 yeehaw" ->
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
2
21
117
2
4
64
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Effectively a full day of ontogenizing Albertosaurus libratus, A. sarcophagus, and Daspletosaurus torosus! A new horizon establishes itself upon hours of hard work!
3
3
63
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
A busy semester, but managing to push ahead a major redescription of a certain controversial tyrannosaurid skull!
2
3
62
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
Very jarring to hear about the passing of Dr. Angela Milner, leading light of dino paleo at the NHM for many years. I had only met her once at an SVP meeting: Although my heart was in my throat, the interaction was cordial - the best sort of memory to keep of a colleague.
0
2
63
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
Introducing Moros, & yours truly quoted:
0
18
60
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
A humiliation for Vertebrate Paleontology, &, almost certainly, a loss for Science:
5
13
59
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
What makes sense is to return the fossil to Brazil:
0
14
60
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Correcting the naive misapprehensions of dinosaur ontogeny:
1
20
57
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
Closing in on the completion of the T. rex ontogeny ms. One of the final tasks I am currently working is drafting an image of what the Cleveland skull might have looked like uncrushed: looks really different...!
3
1
58
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
Cool: Carr, 2020 () as of today has been cited 24 times since publication - that's 1.2 citations per month!
0
5
58
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
Holy crap - I landed an oral presentation at the upcoming Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Brisbane!
0
1
58
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 years
It's 4:30 am & do you know where your vertebrate paleontologist is?! Loading gear into a 15-seat van for an epic cross-country trip to Montana to start this season's fieldwork with an intrepid crew of students from Carthage College & the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design!
5
1
57
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Juvenile T. rex craniomandibular osteology (braincase, pterygoid, angular, articular, and prearticular bones are missing):
Tweet media one
1
12
56
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
3 years
A cool discovery (by MIAD student Mason Wojtyla) this field season - a possible Triceratops scapula and coracoid; scapula continuing into the hill!
Tweet media one
2
6
56
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
Coverage of my T. rex growth study in Live Science with good feedback:
2
24
55
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
5 months
Hey kids, if you're going to rip into my work, fine, but first make sure you've understood what I've actually said...
4
3
57
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
4 years
My hat's off to the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology for their moratorium on publication of Blood Amber fossils; may all other journals follow in kind:
1
11
57
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
1 year
The rigorous work of Hurlburt et al. (2013) showed that the brain of T. rex only occupied between 33% to 50% of the endocranial volume. That does not a baboon level intelligence make.
2
9
55
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
2 years
From the 2021 field season: the mysterious "Two in One Night Bone"
Tweet media one
2
6
52
@TyrannosaurCarr
Thomas Carr
7 years
Every day should be THEROPOD THURSDAY!
Tweet media one
1
33
55