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New Theropods Bigger than T. rex or Giganotosaurus April 29, 1999 |
Like the other enormous meat-eating dinosaurs, these newly-discovered meat-eaters had a large head with many sharp teeth, short arms, hollow bones, and a long tail. Over 200 bones have been found, coming from five different animals. Unfortunately, none of the skeletons is complete, so assessing the exact lengths is difficult, but the largest bones are bigger than the corresponding bones in Giganotosaurus or T. rex.
The dig site is in Neuquen province, Argentinia. Coria, a paleontologist from the Carmen Funes Museum in Neuquen, Argentina, described the original Giganotosaurus in 1993.
Giganotosaurus was a 47-foot long meat-eating dinosaur which weighed about 8 tons and stood 12 feet tall (at the hips). It walked on two legs, had a brain the size of a banana, and had enormous jaws with 8-inch long, knife-like, serrated teeth in a 6 feet (1.8 m) long skull. Giganotosaurus was a theropod from the mid-Cretaceous period, living about 100-95 million years ago, toward the end of the Mesozoic Era, the "Age of Reptiles". | Although some news sources (like Reuters) reported that Giganotosaurus kept T. rex from venturing into South America, this is wrong. Giganotosaurus lived and died millions of years before T. rex evolved. Also, a sea separated North and South America during the Cretaceous. These two titans could never have met, unless they had a time machine and a boat. |
Giganotosaurus was a carnivorous dinosaur that was even larger than T. rex. Because of its very small brain case, it had been thought that Giganotosaurus was a relatively dumb dinosaur, exhibiting few complex behaviors. Giga-noto-saurus means "giant southern reptile". Giganotosaurus was originally found by a local auto mechanic whose hobby is hunting dinosaur bones. In honor of the discoverer, Ruben Carolini, the huge dinosaur has been named Giganotosaurus carolinii. Its fossil was unearthed in the Patagonia region of southeastern Argentina (near the town of El Chocon) in 1993. 70 percent of the skeleton has been found. Near the Giganotosaurus, fossils were found of a 75-foot-long sauropods (plant eaters), Argentinosaurus, presumably a victim of Giganotosaurus.
GIGANOTOSAURUS carolinii | TYRANNOSAURUS rex | |
Skull length | 6 feet (1.8 m) | 5 feet (1.5 m) |
Hands | 3 fingers | larger, with 2 fingers |
Height at hips | 12 feet (3.7 m) | 10 feet (3 m) |
Length | 45-47 feet (14.5 m) | 40 feet (12 m) |
Weight | about 8 tons | about 5 tons |
Teeth | long, knife-like, serrated - slicing action | conical, serrated - crushing action |
Brain size, shape | small, banana shaped | larger and wider |
When they lived | about 100-95 million years ago | about 68- 65 million years ago |
Where they lived | South America | North America |
Picture |
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