In addition to a not inconsiderable rex collection in the dinosaur hall, the Carnegie also has a cast of the juvenile Tyrannosaurus ‘Jane’ striding around the corridors. Yet another specimen I’d not seen before, this was a great lesson in ontogeny as even the briefest glance shows that the head here is quite small relative to the body and the legs appear absurdly long. This is an animal yet to grow into it’s powerful adult form – even the skull looks pretty narrow when seen from the front.
A nice touch was the fact that this was mounted close to the ground and not miles behind some barrier so I was able to get a pretty good look up close and see some details (which also shows off the quality of the casting). A great little find and quite unexpected.
Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings 
What? Jane is at the Carnegie as well? I didn’t know that. I also love the fact that you took a picture of the head looking straight towards you. I was always under the impression the eyes didn’t face forward when it was young. I don’t know why I thought that. Must have been some book that described the skull as being flat compared to the adults.
I heard from someone that the Nanotyrannus debate now lists Jane as a juvenile Rex, while the other skeletons are Nanotyrannus. I don’t know the source. Did you hear anything about it?
Also, did you hear about the Montana Dueling Dinosaurs discovery?
I just watched a program about Jane and was also wondering your take on the whone nano verses juvenile debate.
Jane is a juvenile of something for sure (and presumably a rex). I’ve still never seen the critical ‘Nanotyrannus’ skull (or even very good photos of it) so I can’t really say very much. I’m not against the concept in principle and indeed I’ve written about how odd it is that Tyrannosaurus seems to be the lone very large predator in it’s ecosystem, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there was something else out there.
Jane is an amazingly beautiful fossil.
I just looked at that wonderful skull and cooed “awww, she’s so cute”. My co-workers think I’m nuts.