Dino card No. 1338 of 2,027

Oxalaia

Say it: ok-sah-LIE-ah

Name means: “named after Oxalá, a respected African deity brought to Brazil during slavery”1

Ate: MeatSpinosaursLate Cretaceous

Oxalaia was a huge, meat-eating dinosaur with a long snout like a crocodile. It lived in what is now Brazil and was one of the biggest predators of its time.1

Lived

100 to 94 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Laje do Coringa, Cajual Island, Maranhão State, Brazil3 1

Food

Meat3 1

Length

12 to 14 m1

estimated from comparisons with other spinosaurids

Weight

5 tonnes to 7 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 cars parked in a rowas long as 78 bananas end to endas heavy as 5 carsabout as heavy as an elephantas heavy as 1400 watermelons

How big was Oxalaia compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Oxalaia is the largest meat-eating dinosaur ever found in Brazil.1

Its teeth had no serrations, unlike many other spinosaurids such as Suchomimus.1

Oxalaia had one functional tooth followed by two replacement teeth, a feature not seen in other theropod dinosaurs.1

The front part of its snout was very expanded and rounded, different from Spinosaurus.1

Oxalaia lived about 100 to 94 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period.3

Its fossils were found on Cajual Island, a place where descendants of escaped slaves (quilombolas) live.1

AI-made picture of Oxalaia — An AI-made picture of how Oxalaia might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Oxalaia

?How big was Oxalaia?

Oxalaia was about 12 to 14 metres long and weighed 5 to 7 tonnes. That makes it the largest meat eating dinosaur found in Brazil.1 2

?What did Oxalaia eat?

Oxalaia was a spinosaurid, so it mostly ate fish, like a crocodile. It may also have eaten small dinosaurs and pterosaurs.2

?When did Oxalaia live?

Oxalaia lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago.2

?Where was Oxalaia found?

Oxalaia's fossils were found on Cajual Island in Maranhão, northeastern Brazil, in the Alcântara Formation.2

?Is Oxalaia a dinosaur?

Yes, Oxalaia is a dinosaur. It is a spinosaurid theropod, which means it was a meat-eating dinosaur.2

?Did Oxalaia have feathers?

Nobody knows for sure. No feathers have been found with Oxalaia fossils, and spinosaurids are not known to have feathers, but some related dinosaurs may have had them.2

?Was Oxalaia bigger than T. rex?

Oxalaia was about 12 to 14 metres long, similar in length to T. rex, but T. rex was heavier, weighing about 8 tonnes compared to Oxalaia's 5 to 7 tonnes.1 2

?Could Oxalaia swim?

It is possible. Spinosaurids like Oxalaia had long snouts and conical teeth like fish-eaters, and some scientists think they could swim, but there is no direct evidence for Oxalaia.2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Oxalaia
Named by: Kellner et al. 20113
Group: Spinosaurs
Family / clade: Spinosauridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Spinosauridae3
Age of the rocks: 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)3
Rock formations: Alcântara3
Countries: Brazil3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Oxalaia was named in 2011 by Alexander Kellner and his team based on a snout and a jaw fragment found at Laje do Coringa in Brazil.3 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Oxalaia is a separate species or the same as Spinosaurus, because only a few bones have been found.1

Where the facts come from

A new dinosaur (Theropoda, Spinosauridae) from the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Alcântara Formation, Cajual Island, Brazil (scielo.br)
Oxalaia (en.wikipedia.org)
Oxalaia 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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