The name Tyrannosaurus rex means “king of the tyrant lizards,” but a number of other giant carnivores would like to steal its crown. Recently some pretty big, fierce dinosaurs have been found.
Nobu Tamura, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
From its discovery in 1902 until the 1990s, Tyrannosaurus rex was regarded as the biggest, most powerful carnivorous dinosaur of all. It was about 40-42 feet long, stood about 12-15 feet tall at the hip, and weighed about 9.7 tons. These days, however, there are at least four other contenders for that crown. Two are from Argentina and two are from Africa. Today, I’m going to write about the two from Argentina, and in two weeks, the two from Africa.
Giganotosaurus (GIG-ah-noh-ta-SAWR-us). was found in Argentina in 1993. Its name comes from Greek words meaning “giant southern lizard.” There’s a lot of confusion about how to pronounce its name. It is definitely not said like gigantic. That leaves out the first “o” in its name. In Greek, the “g” is a hard sound, like get. So that’s what I go with. Lots of Internet sources use a “j” sound, making it JIG-ah-noh-ta-SAWR-us. But I have to go with the Greek sound: GIG-ah-noh-ta-SAWR-us.
When it was first discovered, paleontologists thought Giganotosaurus was an impressive eight feet bigger than T-rex. Now most think they were similar in size, though Giganotosaurus was probably a little longer, about 40-423 feet long. Their heights and weights also seem to have been similar, with Giganotosaurus having just a slight edge.
T-rex did have some advantages. Its teeth, which were likely used as weapons, could reach 12 inches long, but those of Giganotosaurus were only 8 inches (as if eight-inch teeth were small!). Even more importantly, T-rex had a bigger brain, with well-developed optical lobes, helping it see better. Giganotosaurus had smaller optical lobes, but bigger lobes devoted to smell. Which do you think is more important to a hunter: sight or smell?
These two certainly would have had a huge battle if they ever met. But that never happened. Giganotosaurus lived about 99.5 to 95 million years ago in the area that is now Argentina in South America. Tyrannosaurus lived 72.7 to 66 million years ago in what is now the western United States.
ДиБгд, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The other contender from Argentina is Megaraptor (MEG-uh-rap-tor). Its name means “large thief.” Megaraptor is known from just a few partial skeletons found in Argentina and Australia in 1997. It lived about 75 to 92 million years ago. Scientists think it might have been about the same height as T-rex. Megaraptor was about 13 feet tall at the hip, but it was not nearly as long, only about 25 to 33 feet, 7-9 feet shorter than Tyrannosaurus.
Kabacchi, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
It would seem that Tyrannosaurus’ larger size and probably greater strength would scare Megaraptor off before the fight even began, but that’s not the whole story. What Megaraptor did have was a 15-inch claw on the first finger of each of its hands – and its other claws were pretty big, too. That first claw, though, is almost twice the length of the longest T-rex claw. Tyrannosaurus’s tiny arms were pretty useless in a fight. Megaraptor could use its longer, muscular arms and huge hands to reach in and slash its prey. Also, Megaraptor’s lighter build probably made it faster than T-rex and more agile. It could dart in and out quickly to avoid Tyrannosaurus.
Tyrannosaurus Hand (Left)
(Provided by Myself)
Megaraptor Hand (Right)
raffaele sergi from Pinerolo, Italia, CC BY 2.0,
via Wikimedia Commons
So, it would be an epic battle. Who do you think would win?
Could either of these two take Tyrannosaurus’ crown? Or does that crown belong to a dinosaur from Africa? Come back in two weeks to find out.
Sources (Click Me!)
Calvo, Jorge Orlando and Rodolfo Coria. “New Specimen of Giganotosaurus Carolini (Coria & Salgado, 1995), Supports it as the Largest Theropod Ever Found.” GAIA, Lisbon, December 1998.
Currie, Philip J and Colleayn O. Mastin. The Newest and Coolest Dinosaurs. Grasshopper Books Publishing, 1998.
Frachtenberg, Fabio, and Jorge Calvo, Oscar A. Frachtenberg. Dinosaurios Argentinos: Giants of Patagonia. Aurora, IL: SciTech Hands-On Museum, 2006.
Gasparini, Zulma, Leonardo Salgado, and Rodolfo A. Coria (eds.). Patagonian Mesozoic Reptiles. Indiana University Press, 2007.
Hall, Timothy C. Megaraptor. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. 27 April 1998. <http://pages.prodigy.net/fenrisulf/geology/geo1.htm>.
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Novas, Fernando, E., Diego Pol Juan I. Canale; Juan D. Porfiri; Jorge O. Calvo. “A Bizarre Cretaceous Theropod Dinosaur from Patagonia and the Evolution of Gondwanan Deomaeosaurids. Proceedings: Biological Sciences, Mar2009, Vol. 276, Issue 1659, p1101-1107.
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