Carcharodontosaurus
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Carcharodontosaurus ("shark-toothed reptile") was a gigantic carnivorous allosaurid dinosaur that lived around 98 to 93 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period. It rivaled Tyrannosaurus rex in size, growing to an estimated length of 45 feet (13.5 meters) and weighing up to eight tons.
Paleontolgists once thought that Carcharodontosaurus had the longest skull of any of the therapod dinosaurs. However, the premaxilla and quadrate bones were missing from the original African skull, which led to misinterpretion of its actual size by researchers. A more modest length of five feet, four inches (1.6 meters) has now been proposed. Thus, the honor of the largest theropod skull now belongs to another huge allosaurid dinosaur, Carcharodontosaurus's close relative Giganotosaurus.
Carcharodontosaurus fossils were first found by Charles Deperet and J. Savornin in North Africa in 1927. Originally called Megalosaurus saharicus, its name was changed in 1931 by Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach to that used today. These first fossils of Carcharodontosaurus were destroyed during World War II. However, cranial material from a Carcharodontosaurus was again discovered in North Africa in 1996 by paleontologist Paul Sereno.
Carcharodontosaurus was a carnivore, with enormous jaws and long, serrated teeth up to eight inches long. It may have hunted in packs like other Allosaurs, but no fossil evidence of this exists. It may have been a scavenger as well as an active predator.
Carcharodontosaurus had long, muscular legs and fossilized trackways indicate that it could run about 20 miles per hour, though there is some controversy as to whether it actually did. At eight tons, a forward fall would have been deadly to Carcharodontosaurus, due to the inability of its small arms to brace the animal when it landed.
According to its Encephalization Quotient (brain to body weight ratio), Carcharodontosaurus may have been relatively intelligent. Ongoing discoveries and research by scientists will certainly shed further light on the physiology, behavior, and environmental circumstances and interactions of Carcharodontosaurus.
External links
- "Carcharodontosaurus". DinoData. 12 August.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=and|year=/|date=mismatch (help) - "Some basic info about Carcharodontosaurus". Enchanted Learning. 12 August.
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