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as long as 3 cars parked in a row🍌as long as 76 bananas end to end
about as heavy as an elephant🍉as heavy as 1400 watermelons🎒as heavy as 9 whole school classes of kids🐻❄️as heavy as 16 polar bears🏃could run 100 metres in 16 seconds (the fastest human needs 9.6)How big was Carcharodontosaurus compared to YOU?
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Fun facts
Its teeth were so sharp and serrated that they reminded scientists of great white shark teeth, which is how it got its name.1
The first fossils were two teeth found in Algeria in 1924, but those teeth are now lost.1
A nearly complete skeleton found in Egypt was destroyed during a bombing raid in World War II, but scientists later used old photos to learn more about it.1
In 1995, a huge skull was found in Morocco and became the new reference specimen for the species.1
Some scientists think a dinosaur called Sauroniops, named after the evil eye from Lord of the Rings, might actually be the same as Carcharodontosaurus.14
It lived alongside other giant predators, and its fossils are found in rocks that were once river plains and coastal areas.1
Most asked questions about Carcharodontosaurus
?How big was Carcharodontosaurus?
Carcharodontosaurus reached about 12 metres (39 feet) in length and weighed around 5 to 7 metric tons (5.5 to 7.7 short tons).1
?Was Carcharodontosaurus bigger than T. rex?
Carcharodontosaurus was about the same length as T. rex, but T. rex was heavier and had a much stronger bite. Carcharodontosaurus weighed 5 to 7 metric tons, while T. rex could weigh over 8 metric tons.1
?What did Carcharodontosaurus eat?
Carcharodontosaurus was a meat-eater that likely hunted large plant-eating dinosaurs like Paralititan and Rebbachisaurus.3
?When did Carcharodontosaurus live?
Carcharodontosaurus lived about 100 to 94 million years ago, during the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous Period.12
?Where was Carcharodontosaurus found?
Carcharodontosaurus fossils have been found in North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Niger.13
?Why is it called Carcharodontosaurus?
Its name means 'shark-toothed lizard' because its sharp, serrated teeth look like those of a great white shark.12
?Did Carcharodontosaurus have feathers?
No one knows for sure. No fossil feathers have been found with Carcharodontosaurus, and it is not closely related to feathered dinosaurs like raptors.1
?How fast could Carcharodontosaurus run?
Probably up to about 22 km/h (14 mph), about as fast as a grown-up riding a bike. This is an estimate: nobody knows for sure. It was huge and heavy, so it was probably not a very fast runner.1
?Could Carcharodontosaurus swim?
There is no evidence that Carcharodontosaurus could swim. It lived near rivers and lakes, but it was a land-dwelling dinosaur.3
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Myth buster
Myth: Some people think Carcharodontosaurus was the same as Giganotosaurus from South America.
Truth: Scientists used to think they might be the same, but now most agree they are different dinosaurs.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Carcharodontosaurus
- Named by
- (Stromer 1931)4
- Group
- Meat-eating dinos
- Family / clade
- Carcharodontosauridae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Allosauroidea > Carcharodontosauridae4
- Age of the rocks
- 143 to 72 million years (Berriasian / Campanian)4
- Rock formations
- Continental Intercalaire, Ifezouane, Aïn el Guettar4
- Countries
- Algeria, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia, Egypt, Brazil4
- Fossil records
- 44 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Also known as
- Sauroniops (older names now counted as the same animal)4
- Discovery
- The first fossils were teeth found in Algeria in 1924 and named Megalosaurus saharicus. In 1931, German scientist Ernst Stromer gave it the name Carcharodontosaurus after finding more bones in Egypt.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating whether the species Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis is really a separate species or belongs to a different genus.1
Where the facts come from
- Carcharodontosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Carcharodontosaurus | Size, Skull, & Facts | Britannica (britannica.com)
- Carcharodontosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Carcharodontosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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