Tyrannosaurus rex

Discovered by rancher Kathy Wankel in 1988 on the shore of Fort Peck Reservoir, Montana, this specimen was long known as MOR 555, the “Wankel rex”. It had the most complete Tyrannosaurus forelimb found at that time, helping to settle decades of guesswork about how short and how strongly built the arms really were. It was featured in a popular book, The Complete T. rex, in 1994. But after decades on display at the Museum of the Rockies, in 2014 it went on long-term loan to the Smithsonian, where it has been remounted as part of the major renovation of their fossil halls. It has since been unveiled as “The Nation’s T. rex,” and catalogued as specimen USNM 555000.