--- title: New Fossils Offer Clues Into Life of T-Rex Ancestor description: Before the T-rex roamed, a smaller, more slender creature lived canonical: https://time.com/4258240/t-rex-dinosaur-early-life/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-14T21:17:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:53:24.040Z article:section: Science og:title: New Fossils Offer Clues Into Life of T-Rex Ancestor og:description: Before the T-rex roamed, a smaller, more slender creature lived og:url: https://time.com/4258240/t-rex-dinosaur-early-life/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62417d6d38813930/69888aef5f570fe9ceb2009d/t-rex-smithsonian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: This March 4, 2016 photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution shows Hans Sues, Chair, Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution holding a cast (right hand) of a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth for comparison with og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Fossils Offer Clues Into Life of T-Rex Ancestor twitter:description: Before the T-rex roamed, a smaller, more slender creature lived twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62417d6d38813930/69888aef5f570fe9ceb2009d/t-rex-smithsonian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Fossils Offer Clues Into Life of T-Rex Ancestor > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 14, 2016 9:17 PM UTC  Hans Sues, Chair of the Department of Paleobiology of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, holding a cast (right hand) of a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth for comparison with an actual tooth of the new tyrannosaur Timurlengia euotica that was found in the Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan, in a photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution on March 4, 2016. Hans Sues, Chair of the Department of Paleobiology of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, holding a cast (right hand) of a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth for comparison with an actual tooth of the new tyrannosaur Timurlengia euotica that was found in the Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan, in a photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution on March 4, 2016. James Di Loreto—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 14, 2016 9:17 PM UTC Scientists have discovered clues to a new dinosaur that reveals new details about the Tyrannosaurus Rex we’ve grown to appreciate (and fear). It seems the Tyrannosaurus-Rex wasn’t always the towering, menacing creature with a massive head and razor-sharp teeth that we’re familiar with. Fossils discovered in Uzbekistan by Smithsonian paleontologists show that there was a smaller, more slender dinosaur in the tyrannosaurus family called the _Timurlengia euotica_. The small dinosaur is believed to have lived around 20 million years before the Tyrannosaurus Rex—though “small” is relative; according to a [_Smithsonian Magazine_](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/discovery-tiny-tyrant-adds-new-insight-origins-t-rex-180958403/?utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&no-ist) report on the findings the dinosaur was about the size of a horse. The early ancestors of the Tyrannosaurus Rex were much smaller in size—though just as sharp in smarts with their keen olfactory and visual abilities. Read more at [_Smithsonian Magazine_ ](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/discovery-tiny-tyrant-adds-new-insight-origins-t-rex-180958403/?utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&no-ist) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4258240/t-rex-dinosaur-early-life/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4258240/t-rex-dinosaur-early-life/"},"headline":"New Fossils Offer Clues Into Life of T-Rex Ancestor","datePublished":"2016-03-14T21:17:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:53:24.040Z","description":"Before the T-rex roamed, a smaller, more slender creature lived","url":"https://time.com/4258240/t-rex-dinosaur-early-life/","keywords":["dinosaurs","Science topic","Discovery"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62417d6d38813930/69888aef5f570fe9ceb2009d/t-rex-smithsonian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62417d6d38813930/69888aef5f570fe9ceb2009d/t-rex-smithsonian.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"This March 4, 2016 photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution shows Hans Sues, Chair, Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution holding a cast (right hand) of a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth for comparison with","caption":"This March 4, 2016 photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution shows Hans Sues, Chair, Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution holding a cast (right hand) of a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth for comparison with","creditText":"James Di Loreto—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dinosaurs/","name":"dinosaurs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4258240/t-rex-dinosaur-early-life/","name":"New Fossils Offer Clues Into Life of T-Rex Ancestor"}}]}] ```