Teaspoon Museum

Here is a new website:

Home - Malcolm Bronte Latest Release 600 Puzzles Lateral Thinking Questions and a Treasure Hunt.by Malcolm Bronte Buy Now About The Author Malcolm Bronte Malcolm’s diverse journey began in Africa before settling in Scotland. After graduating as a geologist from Aberdeen University, he embarked on a series of adventures...

Teaspoon of the Day
These 4 spoons have faded, oval-shaped discs at the top that contain pictures of butterflies including the: Red Admiral, Large Blue, Brimstone and Large White.

Butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts. The Smithsonian Institution says "butterflies are certainly one of the most appealing creatures in nature".

Butterflies have a four-stage life cycle. Like most insects they undergo complete metamorphosis. 1) Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, (caterpillars), will feed. 2) The caterpillars grow and when fully developed, 3) pupate in a chrysalis. 4) When metamorphosis is complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out, and after its wings have expanded and dried, it flies off.

Some butterflies, especially in the tropics, have several generations in a year, while others have a single generation, and a few in cold locations may take several years to pass through their entire life cycle.

Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. They are often polymorphic, and many species make use of camouflage, mimicry, and aposematism to evade their predators. Some migrate over long distances.
Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago.

 Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta), are found in gardens in temperate regions of the UK, USA North Africa, Europe, Asia and the Carribean. Previously known as the red admirable, it is medium-sized with black wings, red bands, and white spots and a wingspan of about 5 cms. Typically found in moist woodlands, the caterpillar's primary host plant is the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). The adult butterfly drinks from flowering plants like Buddleia and overripe fruit. Red admirals are territorial; females will only mate with males that hold territory. Males with superior flight abilities are more likely to successfully court females. It is known as an unusually calm butterfly, often allowing observation at a very close distance before flying away, also landing on and using humans as perches. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

 The large blue (Phengaris arion) can be distinguished by its unique wings that have speckled black dots on a blue background. Today it can be found in Europe, the Caucasus, Armenia, western Siberia, Altai, north-western Kazakhstan and Sichuan. In 1979 the species became mostly extinct in Britain but has been successfully reintroduced with new conservation methods. The species is classified as "near threatened" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The species was first defined in 1758 and first recorded in Britain in 1795.

 The Common Brimstone, (Gonepteryx rhamni), is found across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Adult males have yellow wings and iridescence while females have greenish-white wings and are not iridescent. They rely on two species of buckthorn plants as hosts for their larvae; these plants are commonly found in wetlands. The adult brimstone spends seven months overwintering in woodland areas. In spring when their host plants have developed, they return to breed and lay eggs. Both the larval and adult common brimstone exhibit cryptic colouration, meaning they match the colour of their habitats. Larvae are so difficult to see that they can remain in the open undetected. Adult brimstones are leaf-mimics, as they share similarities in shape, colour, and pattern to leaves. This allows them to blend in with their surroundings during vulnerable times like hibernation.

 The Large White, (Pieris brassicae), also called cabbage butterfly, cabbage white, cabbage moth (erroneously), is a large, strong flying butterfly. The brilliant white wings have black tips to the forewings, extending down the wing edge. Females have two spots on the forewings, which is not present in males. The undersides are a creamy white with two spots. They are common throughout Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Teaspoon of the Day
A teaspoon with a large white circular disc at the top that announces (on a blue banner with a crown above) “1840 RSPCA 1990” and below that (on a red banner) “150 Royal Years”.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is an animal welfare charity. Their mission is to improve the lives of all animals, and their main focus is to end the cruelty that animals suffer. The RSPCA operates in England and Wales and is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II.

Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world and is one of the largest charities in the UK. The organisation also does international outreach work across Europe, Africa and Asia.

The vision of the RSPCA is to live in a world where all animals are respected and treated with compassion. They were the first to introduce a law to protect animals and they work to ensure that all animals can live free from pain and suffering. They aim to raise standards of care, and awareness of issues affecting animals today through various campaigns.

Every year they take in and care for thousands of animals, from pets to wildlife and everything in between. They rescue animals and rehabilitate them wherever possible, providing them with veterinary care and finding them new homes, either through rehoming or release.

They stand up to those who deliberately harm animals and send out the clear message that they will not tolerate animal abuse, through investigations and prosecutions. Though education and advice are their preferred course of action when an animal is found to be suffering, they say that sometimes they have no other choice than to pursue a prosecution. Their officers tackle cases of neglect and work to stamp out animal cruelty. They secured almost 1,500 convictions in 2019.

They rely on public support to help them push for changes in the law to improve the welfare of animals on farms, in labs, in the wild, in paddocks or homes.

Their work to end cruelty is not limited to England and Wales. They share expertise around the world with those responsible for writing laws and with those who care for animals.

The RSPCA has its roots in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Britain where opposing views were exchanged in print concerning the use of animals. The harsh use and maltreatment of animals in hauling carriages, scientific experiments, and amusements of fox-hunting, bull-baiting and c**k fighting were among some of the matters that were debated by social reformers, clergy, and parliamentarians. An attempt by Sir William Pulteney in 1800 to pass legislation through the British parliament to ban the practice of bull-baiting was unsuccessful. Lord Erskine introduced an anti-cruelty bill which was passed in the House of Lords but was defeated in a vote in the House of Commons in 1809. A later attempt to pass anti-cruelty legislation was spearheaded by the Irish parliamentarian Richard Martin and in 1822 an anti-cruelty to cattle bill (sometimes called Martin's Act) became law.

Teaspoon of the Day
The disc at the top of this spoon has a picture of a blue-green caterpillar, sitting on a mushroom, smoking, watched by a girl with blonde hair.

The Hookah-Smoking Caterpillar is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
This picture is a colourful version of the original black and white drawing by John Tenniel. The illustration is noted for its ambiguous central figure, whose head may be viewed as either: a human male's face with a pointed nose and protruding chin or otherwise as the head end of a caterpillar, with two "true" legs visible. Thus, like many elements of the Alice in Wonderland story, the drawing is a bit of a visual paradox.

The ho**ah-smoking caterpillar is introduced in Chapter Four ("Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill") and the main centre of interest of Chapter V ("Advice from a Caterpillar"). Alice does not like the Caterpillar when they first meet because he talks to her in short, to the point, rather rude sentences, or questions.

The Caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and one side will make her smaller.

The following passage is copied from the book:

The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the ho**ah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.
'Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, 'I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'
'What do you mean by that?' said the Caterpillar sternly. 'Explain yourself!'
'I can't explain MYSELF, I'm afraid, sir' said Alice, 'because I'm not myself, you see.'
'I don't see,' said the Caterpillar.
'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely, 'for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.'
'It isn't,' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, perhaps you haven't found it so yet,' said Alice; 'but when you have to turn into a chrysalis—you will some day, you know—and then after that into a butterfly, I should think you'll feel it a little q***r, won't you?'
'Not a bit,' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, perhaps your feelings may be different,' said Alice; 'all I know is, it would feel very q***r to ME.'
'You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously. 'Who are YOU?'
Which brought them back again to the beginning of the conversation. Alice felt a little irritated at the Caterpillar's making such VERY short remarks, and she drew herself up and said, very gravely, 'I think, you ought to tell me who YOU are, first.'
'Why?' said the Caterpillar.
Here was another puzzling question; and as Alice could not think of any good reason, and as the Caterpillar seemed to be in a VERY unpleasant state of mind, she turned away.
'Come back!' the Caterpillar called after her. 'I've something important to say!'
This sounded promising, certainly: Alice turned and came back again.
'Keep your temper,' said the Caterpillar.
'Is that all?' said Alice, swallowing down her anger as well as she could.
'No,' said the Caterpillar.
Alice thought she might as well wait, as she had nothing else to do, and perhaps after all it might tell her something worth hearing. For some minutes it puffed away without speaking, but at last it unfolded its arms, took the ho**ah out of its mouth again, and said, 'So you think you're changed, do you?'
'I'm afraid I am, sir,' said Alice; 'I can't remember things as I used—and I don't keep the same size for ten minutes together!'
'Can't remember WHAT things?' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, I've tried to say "HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE," but it all came different!' Alice replied in a very melancholy voice.
'Repeat, "YOU ARE OLD, FATHER WILLIAM,"' said the Caterpillar.
Alice folded her hands, and began:—
'You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
'And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'
'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
'I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back–somersault in at the door—
Pray, what is the reason of that?'
'In my youth,' said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
'I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment—one shilling the box—
Allow me to sell you a couple?'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray how did you manage to do it?'
'In my youth,' said his father, 'I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.'
'You are old,' said the youth, 'one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
What made you so awfully clever?'
'I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
Said his father; 'don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
'That is not said right,' said the Caterpillar.
'Not QUITE right, I'm afraid,' said Alice, timidly; 'some of the words have got altered.'
'It is wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar decidedly, and there was silence for some minutes.
The Caterpillar was the first to speak.
'What size do you want to be?' it asked.
'Oh, I'm not particular as to size,' Alice hastily replied; 'only one doesn't like changing so often, you know.'
'I DON'T know,' said the Caterpillar.
Alice said nothing: she had never been so much contradicted in her life before, and she felt that she was losing her temper.
'Are you content now?' said the Caterpillar.
'Well, I should like to be a LITTLE larger, sir, if you wouldn't mind,' said Alice: 'three inches is such a wretched height to be.'
'It is a very good height indeed!' said the Caterpillar angrily, rearing itself upright as it spoke (it was exactly three inches high).
'But I'm not used to it!' pleaded poor Alice in a piteous tone. And she thought of herself, 'I wish the creatures wouldn't be so easily offended!'
'You'll get used to it in time,' said the Caterpillar; and it put the ho**ah into its mouth and began smoking again.
This time Alice waited patiently until it chose to speak again. In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the ho**ah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, 'One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'
'One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to herself.
'Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.
Alice remained looking thoughtfully at the mushroom for a minute, trying to make out which were the two sides of it; and as it was perfectly round, she found this a very difficult question. However, at last she stretched her arms round it as far as they would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each hand.
'And now which is which?' she said to herself, and nibbled a little of the right–hand bit to try the effect: the next moment she felt a violent blow underneath her chin: it had struck her foot!
She was a good deal frightened by this very sudden change, but she felt that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly; so she set to work at once to eat some of the other bit. Her chin was pressed so closely against her foot, that there was hardly room to open her mouth; but she did it at last, and managed to swallow a morsel of the lefthand bit.
'Come, my head's free at last!' said Alice in a tone of delight, which changed into alarm in another moment, when she found that her shoulders were nowhere to be found: all she could see, when she looked down, was an immense length of neck, which seemed to rise like a stalk out of a sea of green leaves that lay far below her.
'What CAN all that green stuff be?' said Alice. 'And where HAVE my shoulders got to? And oh, my poor hands, how is it I can't see you?' She was moving them about as she spoke, but no result seemed to follow, except a little shaking among the distant green leaves.
As there seemed to be no chance of getting her hands up to her head, she tried to get her head down to them, and was delighted to find that her neck would bend about easily in any direction, like a serpent. She had just succeeded in curving it down into a graceful zigzag, and was going to dive in among the leaves, which she found to be nothing but the tops of the trees under which she had been wandering, when a sharp hiss made her draw back in a hurry: a large pigeon had flown into her face, and was beating her violently with its wings.
'Serpent!' screamed the Pigeon.
'I'm NOT a serpent!' said Alice indignantly. 'Let me alone!'
'Serpent, I say again!' repeated the Pigeon, but in a more subdued tone, and added with a kind of sob, 'I've tried every way, and nothing seems to suit them!'
'I haven't the least idea what you're talking about,' said Alice.
'I've tried the roots of trees, and I've tried banks, and I've tried hedges,' the Pigeon went on, without attending to her; 'but those serpents! There's no pleasing them!'
Alice was more and more puzzled, but she thought there was no use in saying anything more till the Pigeon had finished.
'As if it wasn't trouble enough hatching the eggs,' said the Pigeon; 'but I must be on the look–out for serpents night and day! Why, I haven't had a wink of sleep these three weeks!'
'I'm very sorry you've been annoyed,' said Alice, who was beginning to see its meaning.
'And just as I'd taken the highest tree in the wood,' continued the Pigeon, raising its voice to a shriek, 'and just as I was thinking I should be free of them at last, they must needs come wriggling down from the sky! Ugh, Serpent!'
'But I'm NOT a serpent, I tell you!' said Alice. 'I'm a—I'm a—'
'Well! WHAT are you?' said the Pigeon. 'I can see you're trying to invent something!'
'I—I'm a little girl,' said Alice, rather doubtfully, as she remembered the number of changes she had gone through that day.
'A likely story indeed!' said the Pigeon in a tone of the deepest contempt. 'I've seen a good many little girls in my time, but never ONE with such a neck as that! No, no! You're a serpent; and there's no use denying it. I suppose you'll be telling me next that you never tasted an egg!'
'I HAVE tasted eggs, certainly,' said Alice, who was a very truthful child; 'but little girls eat eggs quite as much as serpents do, you know.'
'I don't believe it,' said the Pigeon; 'but if they do, why then they're a kind of serpent, that's all I can say.'
This was such a new idea to Alice, that she was quite silent for a minute or two, which gave the Pigeon the opportunity of adding, 'You're looking for eggs, I know THAT well enough; and what does it matter to me whether you're a little girl or a serpent?'
'It matters a good deal to ME,' said Alice hastily; 'but I'm not looking for eggs, as it happens; and if I was, I shouldn't want YOURS: I don't like them raw.'
'Well, be off, then!' said the Pigeon in a sulky tone, as it settled down again into its nest. Alice crouched down among the trees as well as she could, for her neck kept getting entangled among the branches, and every now and then she had to stop and untwist it. After a while she remembered that she still held the pieces of mushroom in her hands, and she set to work very carefully, nibbling first at one and then at the other, and growing sometimes taller and sometimes shorter, until she had succeeded in bringing herself down to her usual height.
It was so long since she had been anything near the right size, that it felt quite strange at first; but she got used to it in a few minutes, and began talking to herself, as usual. 'Come, there's half my plan done now! How puzzling all these changes are! I'm never sure what I'm going to be, from one minute to another! However, I've got back to my right size: the next thing is, to get into that beautiful garden—how IS that to be done, I wonder?' As she said this, she came suddenly upon an open place, with a little house in it about four feet high. 'Whoever lives there,' thought Alice, 'it'll never do to come upon them THIS size: why, I should frighten them out of their wits!' So she began nibbling at the righthand bit again, and did not venture to go near the house till she had brought herself down to nine inches high.

Disney: (1951 film)
The Caterpillar in the Disney 1951 Alice in Wonderland film is a blue creature who, as in the original Tenniel illustration, smokes a ho**ah. He is seen as a very forthright character. He yells at Alice quite often. He blows smoke in Alice's face and when she needs help he ignores her. He is quite a mean character providing little to no assistance to Alice and ends up confusing her more while she is trapped in Wonderland. He ignores her, turns into a butterfly and flutters away not caring whether or not Alice makes it out alive. He also instructs her to eat a mushroom but does not say what it does thus putting her into possible danger. One might argue that he teaches her how to change size by eating the mushroom and thereby to adapt to her environment when needed.

His memorable phrase is a breathy "Whooo ... are ... you?". In the Disney animated film, this line is visualised as exhalations of smoke in the shapes "O", "R" and "U". Alice remarks in the original that the Caterpillar will one day turn into a butterfly, and in both the 1999 television film and Disney's 1951 version he does so in Alice's presence.

Teaspoon of the Day
This photo does not do justice to the deep, jewel-like blue in the cross at the top of this spoon. The word "Canterbury" is etched into the bowl.

The distinctive Canterbury Cross was designed after a Saxon brooch, from 850, that was found in 1867 in Canterbury. The original cross has triangular panels of silver, incised with a triquetra and inlaid with niello. The tips of the arms are arcs of a circle, giving the overall effect of a round wheel.

Canterbury is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, beside the River Stour in southeast England. A pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages. Ancient walls encircle its medieval center with cobbled streets and timber-framed houses. The city has been occupied since Paleolithic times. Many historical structures fill the area, including the Roman walls that were rebuilt in the 14th century, the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey, the Norman Castle, and the oldest school in the world, the King's School.

Canterbury Cathedral, founded 597 A.D., is the headquarters of the Church of England and Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the Church of England. The cathedral became a focus of pilgrimage following the 1170 martyrdom of Thomas Becket, although it had been a popular pilgrim destination since the murder of St Alphege by the men of King Canute in 1012. A journey of pilgrims to Becket's shrine was the background to Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th-century classic “The Canterbury Tales”.

Paleolithic axes, and Neolithic and Bronze Age pots have been found in the area. In the 1st century AD, the Romans captured the settlement and named it Durovernum Cantiacorum. They rebuilt the city, with new streets in a grid pattern, a theatre, a temple, a forum, and public baths. Its position on Watling Street relative to the major Kentish ports gave it considerable strategic importance. The Romans built an earth bank around the city and a wall with seven gates, which enclosed an area of 130 acres, in the 3rd century to defend against attack from barbarians.

It seems that after the Romans left Britain in 410 Durovernum Cantiacorum was abandoned for around 100 years. In 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to convert King Æthelberht to Christianity. Augustine chose Canterbury as the place to build an abbey and cathedral, and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. This revived the town and trades developed in pottery, textiles, and leather. By 630, gold coins were being struck at the Canterbury mint.

In 842 and 851, Canterbury suffered great loss of life during Danish raids. In 1011, Canterbury was beseiged by a large Viking army culminating in the city being pillaged and the eventual murder of Archbishop Alphege.

Remembering the destruction caused by the Danes, the inhabitants of Canterbury did not resist William the Conqueror's invasion in 1066. William ordered a wooden motte-and-bailey castle to be built by the Roman city wall which was rebuilt with stone in the 12th century.

After the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket at the cathedral in 1170, Canterbury became one of the most notable towns in Europe. Pilgrims from all parts of Christendom came to visit his shrine.

The Black Death hit Canterbury in 1348. It had the 10th largest population in England; (about 10,000) but by the early 16th century, the population had fallen to 3,000.

In 1381, during Wat Tyler's Peasants' Revolt, the castle and Archbishop's Palace were sacked, and Archbishop Sudbury was beheaded in London. Sudbury is still remembered annually by the Christmas mayoral procession to his tomb at Canterbury Cathedral.

In 1519 a public cage for talkative women and other wrongdoers was set up next to the town's pillory at the Bullstake, now the Buttermarket. In 1522 a stone cross with gilt lead stars was erected at the same place, and painted with bice and gilded by Florence the painter.

During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the city's priory, nunnery and three friaries were closed. St Augustine's Abbey, the 14th richest in England at the time, was surrendered to the Crown, and its church and cloister were levelled. The rest of the abbey was dismantled over the next 15 years, although part of the site was converted to a palace. Thomas Becket's shrine in the cathedral was demolished and all the gold, silver and jewels were removed to the Tower of London, and Becket's images, name and feasts were obliterated throughout the kingdom, ending the pilgrimages.

In 1647, during the English Civil War, riots broke out when Canterbury's puritan mayor banned church services on Christmas Day.

By 1770, the castle had fallen into disrepair, and many parts of it were demolished. By 1820 the city's silk industry had been overtaken by imported Indian muslins; thereafter it traded mostly in hops and wheat.

The Canterbury & Whitstable Railway (The Crab and Winkle Way), the world's first passenger railway, was opened in 1830.

Canterbury is a popular tourist destination: one of the most-visited cities in the United Kingdom, the city's economy is heavily reliant upon tourism. There is also a substantial student population, attending the University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University, the University for the Creative Arts, and the Girne American University Canterbury campus. Canterbury remains, however, a relatively small city in terms of geographical size and population.

Teaspoon of the Day
This shiny spoon has a model of a prehistoric creature at the top, the plinth below has the word “Tyrannosaurus”.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex was one of the most ferocious predators to ever walk the Earth. The “king of the tyrant lizards,” was about 40 feet long and 12 feet tall, weighed between 5 and 8 tons and had a life expectancy of about 28 years.

Tyrannosaurus rex was adept at finding its prey thanks to a keen sense of smell and good hearing. This bipedal dinosaur, with a huge muscular body, sharp teeth, powerful jaws, and a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail, dominated certain late Cretaceous landscapes, 68 million years ago.

This fierce beast had a crunching bite, with its 60 serrated teeth, (each about eight inches long), that could pierce and grip flesh, delivering up to six tons of pressure. Most palaeontologists accept that Tyrannosaurus was probably both an active predator and a scavenger. By far the largest carnivore in its environment, T. rex was most likely an apex predator, preying upon hadrosaurs, armoured herbivores like ceratopsians and ankylosaurs, and possibly sauropods. They had the most powerful bite of any terrestrial animal that has ever lived. They crushed bones during repetitive biting and fully consumed the carcasses of large dinosaurs. Evidence also suggests that tyrannosaurs were cannibalistic, at least occasionally.

Some researchers have proposed that Tyrannosaurus may have been gregarious, pack hunters but this theory has not been accepted universally.

To keep themselves from overheating these giant animals had vents in their heads to help their brain stay cool, similar to those found in alligators.

While they had remarkably strong thighs, these dinosaurs were not fast, there has been much debate and speculation about top speed but it is thought that they could walk at up to 12 miles an hour.

They had relatively puny arms. The function of these little limbs is a source of debate among scientists. Some believe the animal’s arms were an evolutionary leftover—like the pelvic bones of a snake—or served non-predatory purposes like helping it grip a mate. Others argue that T. rex’s arms may have been adapted for “vicious slashing” at close quarters, given their ability to inflict deep wounds with four-inch claws.

Estimates suggest that the total population of adult Tyrannosaurus at any given time was perhaps 20,000 individuals. Over the span of the genus' existence, there were about 127,000 generations so this adds up to a total of roughly 2.5 billion animals until their extinction. Over half of the known T. rex specimens appear to have died within six years of reaching sexual maturity, a pattern which is also seen in other tyrannosaurs and in some large, long-lived birds and mammals today.

Over a thousand dinosaur species once roamed the Earth. T-Rex was the last known member of the tyrannosaurids and among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

As the archetypal theropod, Tyrannosaurus is one of the best-known and most celebrated dinosaurs, they have featured in films, documentaries, children’s toys, advertising, postal stamps, and other media.