Carcharodontosaurus was a beast few other creatures would have wanted to challenge. Reaching lengths of up to 44 feet and sporting sharp, 8-inch teeth, this is one of the biggest meat-eating dinosaurs on record. Though its brain was tiny, this creature's brutal killing power helped it survive for millions of years.
Better Balance: This dino was so big that it would have fallen on its face without the help of its tail. Thick and almost as long as the rest of its body, the tail counter-balanced the weight of this beast's enormous head and kept carcharodontosaurus upright.
Whopper: The first fossilized carcharodontosaurus skull was found in pieces in 1995. Scientists were amazed when they put it together-it measured 5 feet, 4 inches long and had 8-inch long teeth!
Bigger Isn't Always Better[]
Grooves in its teeth helped this dino hold onto slippery prey.
Carcharodontosaurus was bigger, bulkier and stronger than fierce dinosaurs such as T-rex and giganotosaurus. Its brain, however, was only about half the size of T-rex's. This beast could easily out-muscle just about any other animal it met, but it probably couldn't hunt as skillfully as other dinos. This might explain why it eventually died out and made way for "smarter" predators like T-rex.
Intimidator: Instead of hunting for its own meals all the time, carcharodontosaurus probably used its huge size to scare other predators and chase them away from their kills.
Hit & Run: This dinosaur's bulk made it tire quickly. When attacking a large plant-eater, this predator bit into its victim's long neck to kill it instantly or took a big bite out of the prey's side and waited for it to bleed to death.
Timeline[]
Carcharodontosaurus lived 100 to 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The carcharodontosaurus is featured in Fossil Finders on Monster Mania 26.
- The fossil used for the game is the same one pictured on the back of the knowledge card.
- Carcharodontosaurus has the longest singular name of any Monsters of the Past, at 19.
- Carcharodontosaurus is an African cousin to Giganotosaurus, and lived alongside Spinosaurus.