| Dinosaurs » A-Z Dinosaurs List » Giganotosaurus Dinosaur |
| Giganotosaurus |
| Giganotosaurus is a dinosaur that lived about 100 to 90 million years
past during the mid Cretaceous time and is measured to be the heaviest
known terrestrial carnivore.
About 70 percent of the holotype specimen's (MUCPv-Ch1) skeleton was
improved by paleontologists, including the skull, pelvis, leg bones, and
most of the backbone. An eight percent longer specimen (MUCPv-95) also
has been improved. The largest Giganotosaurus specimen is predictable
to be 14.3 m (47 ft) in length and weigh up to 8,000 kg (9 tons), surpassing
Tyrannosaurus rex by almost 2 m and 2,000 kg (6.5 ft and 2.2 tons). The
specimen’s skull alone measures 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in). |
Though longer and heavier than T.
rex, G. carolinii was moderately slender
and had a smaller braincase in comparison. However, even although the
brain of Giganotosaurus was the size of a banana, a well-developed olfactory
region indicates that it may have had a good intellect of smell.
Titanosaurid fossils have been improved near the remains of Giganotosaurus,
leading to speculation that these carnivores may have preyed on the giant
herbivores. |
G. carolinii was named for Ruben Carolini, an amateur fossil hunter who
exposed the fossils in the deposits of the Rio Limay Formation of Patagonia,
in 1993. The genus name "Giganotosaurus" is consequent from
the Greek gigas ("giant"), notos ("south wind") and
sauros ("lizard"). Both names were published by Rodolfo Coria
and Leonardo Salgado in the periodical Nature in 1995. The original fossils
stay at the Carmen Funes Museum in Neuquen, Argentina, although replicas
are commonly established in other places. The family of Giganotosaurus
and Carcharodontosaurus is in fact Carcharodontosauridae. |
