Carcharodontosaurus

Carcharodontosaurus was a giant carnivorous dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous period, 100 - 94 million years ago. It was about 12-12.5 meters (39-41 ft) long and had a weight of about 7 tons, and more than 4 metres tall. Fossils of this Cretaceous dinosaur were found in North Africa by a paleontologist named Ernst Stromer.

Carcharodontosaurus was closely related to the Giganotosaurus carolinii, its cousin from Argentina; they are both megalosaurid carnosaurs. Recent discoveries of Carcharodontosaurus saharicus put its adult length at 39 - 49 feet, making it the largest carnivorous dinosaur in Africa, after Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.

Discovery

Only two Carcharodontosaurus saharicus fossils have been found. Two teeth were found in the 1920s. Other parts were found in Egypt in the 1930s. They were destroyed in bombing raids on Munich in World War II while they were on display. A skull was uncovered in 1996: its length estimates were larger than the older ones and so was its skull, which measured 5.2 feet or 1.6 metres. Its jaws are narrow like those of Giganotosaurus. Its teeth were up to 7 inches long.

The type specimen was been named as “Megalosaurus” saharicus by Erns Stromer in 1921, but was been renamed by Depéret and Savornin Paleontologist’s as a new species: Carcharodontosaurus saharicus. A other species that include is the C. iguidensis It may actually be the same species as C. saharicus, but that is still under debate. Many paleontologists do not consider C. iguidensis to be a valid species.

Popular media

Carcharodontosaurus is not too much a famous theropod, and it only appeared in a few assets of media. It made its first debut in Planet Dinosaur before it made its appearance in Dinosaur King. It also made its debut in Dinosaur Planet, where it was named instead as a pair of carcharodontosaurs. It had a inactive appearance on The Lost World novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, because where, in this story, it is shown roaming alongside the Stegosaurus.