Ask Me Everythingv

Stiffened taił:

Helped the animal keep its balance when running

Rough lives

Fossil evidence of injuries:

. One AUosaurus has a hole in a tailbone that was clearly madę by a stegosaur’s taił spike

' A Chinese Sinraptor bears facial injuries that seem to have been inflicted by a fellow Sinraptor

Healed ribs in Neovenator suggest that it either had a nasty fali or was badly hurt in battle

predators

01: Most big theropods had a deep, narrow snout, with air-fllled sacs along each side.

02: Carcharodontosaurus and AUosaurus had some binocular

Five spinosaurid skuli facts

Most megalosauroids had short skulls, but spinosaurids had long snouts, like a crocodile’s.

The gumlines were not straight, but followed an S-shaped curve.

The teeth were arranged along the S-shaped curve, so they pointed forward and downwards as well as backward.

Spinosaurid teeth were relatively conical and rounded in cross section (rather than flattened from side to side).

The nostril openings were located far back, away from the tip of the snout.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

The name Ton/osaurus

has its roots in two ancient languages. Torvo comes from the Latin word for “savage,” and saurus comes from the Greek word for “lizard.”

("two-eyed”) vision even though their eyes faced sideways. Seeing with both eyes at once allowed them to judge distance.

03: Theropods had an excellent sense of smell.

04: Ali theropods had a V-shaped wishbone, perhaps to provide strength to the chest.

05: The arms were stout with large muscles.

Crests, horns, and ridges

Hind iegs:

Enabled the dinosaur to run fast and ambush prey

Many super predators had odd skuli structures. Most were for display, but some were used as weapons.

Spinosaurus had a ridged crest in front of its eyes

Both Baryonyx and Suchomimus had long ridges up the middle of the snout

' Acrocanthosaurus had bony lumps above and behind each eye socket

Monolophosaurus (below) had a knobbly ridge running along its snout and over its eyes

AUosaurus had triangular horns in front of its eyes and paired ridges along its snout

06: Most theropods had three large, clawed fingers. Some had a fourth, clawless finger.

07: Most theropods had four toes. The first toe was smali, however, and didn’t reach the ground.

08: The taił was strong, muscular, and used for balance.

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Super predator discovery sites

■    Agadez, Niger: Suchomimus

■    Bahariya, Egypt: Spinosaurus, Carcharod on tosa urus

■    Calvados, France:

Poekilopleuron, Dubreuillosaurus

■    Ceara, Brazil: Irritator

■    Colorado, USA: AUosaurus, Torvosaurus

■    Fukui Prefecture, Japan:

Fukuiraptor

■    Isle of Wight, U.K.: Neovenator

■    Mendoza Province,

Argentina: Aerosteon

■    Oklahoma, U.S.A.:

Acrocanthosaurus

■    Patagonia, Argentina:

Mapusaurus, Giganotosaurus, Megaraptor

■    Oueensland, Australia:

Australovenator

■    Sichuan, China: Sinraptor, Yangchuanosaurus

■    Surrey, U.K.: Baryonyx

Super predators 74|75

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