Long before Tyrannosaurus rex, its ancestor, Daspletosaurus, ruled the Age of Dinosaurs. Measuring 30 feet long with a powerful bite force and blade-like teeth to match, Daspletosaurus was a terrifying apex predator in the Late Cretaceous Period and a precursor of the deadly theropods to come.

This specimen is a piece of fossilzed Daspletosaurus bone, recovered from the Two Medicine Formation in Montana. The study of Daspletosaurus specimens at this site has been foundational to understanding the evolutionary chain of the wider Tyrannosaurid family, especially regarding their feeding habits. Here, 74,000,000 years ago, these mighty theropods honed their hunting skills, refining evolutionary traits to be handed down to their deadly descendants.