IF YOU thought you were unlucky in love, spare a thought for Stan, the downtrodden Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Stan's remains form the largest and most complete T-Rex fossil in the world, and his skeleton is so vast that the Yorkshire Museum only has room to put his skull on show in a new exhibition.

He might have been big, but poor old Stan wasn't all that beautiful. His enormous fossilised head suggests the female of the species just didn't fancy him much.

Dr Phil Manning, keeper of geology at the museum, told the Evening Press: "The wonderful thing about the skull is it shows Stan had a hard life.

"He has one scar at the back of his neck which is the same shape as the tooth of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which possibly shows a female biting him on the back of his head.

"Male skulls tend to have these bite marks whereas females don't - it was probably the females saying 'get lost'."

He said the skull also showed evidence of several other attacks and even showed that at one point the dinosaur had had his neck broken.

"He would have been an ugly-looking thing," he said.

Stan may not have been popular with the ladies in his younger days, but his welcome here in 21st century York is sure to be warm, heralding as he does a nationwide first for the city.

The museum will be the first in the country to host an exhibition on the Walking With Dinosaurs programme, working with the BBC and Framestore, the company responsible for the animation sequences in the show.

Stan's skull, and the rest of his skeleton, was discovered back in 1987 by amateur fossil hunter Stan Sacrison.

"He was exploring the Hell Creek formation near to a town called Buffalo in South Dakota," said Dr Manning.

"There he found the fossilised remains of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which turned out to be the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in the world today."

Dr Manning said he was looking forward to the exhibition next month and said it was something of a coup for York.

"It will be absolutely unique," he said.

"There will be TV footage not seen before. It will be one of the most up-to-date touring exhibitions in Europe, if not the world, and it's a wonderful opportunity we've been given."

PICTURE: JAWS: Dr Phil Manning, keeper of geology at the Yorkshire Museum, takes a close look at the Tyrannosaurus Rex skull Picture: Mike Tipping