Giganotosaurus

Giganotosaurus carolinii · Giganotosaurus was a huge meat-eating theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina about 111 to 106 million years ago.

It lived about 111 to 106 million years ago.

Giganotosaurus
Photo: TotalDino, CC BY 4.0
Giganotosaurus
Photo: チャンネルD - ChDinosaurs, CC BY-SA 4.0
Giganotosaurus
Photo: Rjcastillo, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSaurischia
FamilyCarcharodontosauridae
GenusGiganotosaurus
SpeciesGiganotosaurus carolinii

Where its fossils were found

Patagonia, Argentina (Neuquén and Río Negro provinces).

Fun facts

  • Its discoverer, an amateur fossil hunter, spotted its leg bone while driving a dune buggy through the badlands of Patagonia.
  • Giganotosaurus had a small "chin" at the tip of its lower jaw, which may have helped it cope with the stress of delivering a powerful bite.
  • Its metabolism sat between that of a mammal and a reptile, a kind of warm-bloodedness that would have supported rapid growth.
  • Its jaw joint was moved far back to lengthen the jaw muscles, which let it close its jaws faster than tyrannosaurs, whose jaw muscles were built more for power.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).