Prototype designed by: ZHAO Chuang
Stories written by: YANG Yang

Who is Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus?

Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus was a ferocious tyrannosaur that lived in present-day Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous. Whether the size or appearance, Tarbosaurus was very similar to Tyrannosaurus rex. Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus had a huge body, short forelimbs, robust hind legs, fangs and claws, and was a powerful local predator.

Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus

Model Size/31cm X 6cm X 11cm
Model Material/ Environment-friendly PVC, hand painting
Model Structure/Solid Structure
Package Size/32cm X 8.6cm X 12.2cm
Inside Package/ Model + A3 Poster + Product Manual
Transparent Support/Yes

How did ZHAO Chuang and YANG Yang create Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus?


The Size of Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus

Tarbosaurus was a large predator, comparable to the size of Tyrannosaurus rex, but not as stout as Tyrannosaurus rex. It had a slightly narrower trunk. We set the body length of Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus to 11 meters to scale down, and it had a sturdy neck, trunk, and tail.

The Head of Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus

Although both were large carnivorous dinosaurs of the Tyrannosauridae family, from the perspective of restoration, the head of Tarbosaurus was longer and more slender than that of Tyrannosaurus rex, which was caused by their different lower jaws. Unlike Tyrannosaurus rex, which had a wide and flexible jaw, Tarbosaurus had a much narrower lower jaw that looked rigid. The different shapes were actually caused by their various living environments. Mongolia, where Tarbosaurus lived at the time, was active with many giant sauropods, such as Nemegtosaurus, which were colossal and hardly moved alone. To deal with these herds of giants, Tarbosaurus must have some special equipment, and their hard lower jaw was gradually formed in the fight with these prey. In North America, where Tyrannosaurus rex lived, there was no such large prey then, and they naturally did not need a hard lower jaw. Therefore, the different physiological structures of Tyrannosaurus rex and Tarbosaurus are their adaptation to survival. When restoring Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus, we showed this remarkable feature on its head, so the entire face of Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus looks narrower than that of Tyrannosaurus rex.

The Forelimbs of Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus

Most tyrannosaurs had very short forelimbs, especially the Tyrannosaurus rex. Their short forelimbs are always talked about by everyone. In fact, among the members of the Tyrannosauridae family, the forelimbs of Tarbosaurus were shorter than those of Tyrannosaurus rex in terms of body proportions. From this restored Tarbosaurus model, you can see that its forelimbs are very short.

The Skin of Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus

Fossilized scales are preserved from the throat to the shoulders of Tarbosaurus and the middle section of the right side of the tail. We refer to this evidence to reconstruct the scales on the skin of Tarbosaurus. No evidence of the skin color of Tarbosaurus has been found yet, but according to their habit- the swamp, we have restored its skin color to gray.


Learn while Play

Subscribe to PNSO.Official YouTube channel. Get to know Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus with ZHAO Chuang in the playlist of PNSO Prehistoric Animal Models-Get to Know Dinosaurs. Learn to draw Chuanzi the Tarbosaurus with ZHAO Chuang in the playlist of PNSO Prehistoric Animal Models-Learn to Draw Dinosaurs.