Temporal range: Cretaceous
Carcharodontosaurus was a giant carnivorous dinosaur of the Cretaceous period, 100–93 million years ago. It was about 13 meters long and had a weight of about six tons. Fossils of Carcharodontosaurus were found in Africa.
Carcharodontosaurus was closely related to the slightly larger Giganotosaurus, its cousin from Argentina; they are both carcharodontosaurid carnosaurs. Recent discoveries of Carcharodontosaurus put its adult length at 39 – 44 feet, making it the largest carnivorous dinosaur in Africa, after Spinosaurus.
Only two Carcharodontosaurus fossils have been found. Two teeth were found in the 1920's. Other parts were found in Egypt in the 1930s. They were destroyed in bombing raids on Munich in World War II while they were on display.
A skull was uncovered in 1996: its length estimates were larger than the older ones and so was its skull, which measured 5.2 feet or 1.6 metres. Its jaws are narrow like those of Giganotosaurus. Its teeth were up to 7 inches long.
Notes[change | change source]
- The name means 'sharp toothed lizard'.
- Briggs, Helen (2007-12-12). "New meat-eating dinosaur unveiled". Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis was one of the largest meat-eaters that ever lived. BBC NEWS. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7138782.stm. Retrieved December 15, 2007.