Giganotosaurus Characteristics

Giganotosaurus was a huge theropod dinosaur and measured 18 feet (5 metres) in height, 45 feet (13 metres) in length and weighed a massive 8 tons (7,300 kilograms). This dinosaurs skull was massive itself measuring 6 feet in length. It had short arms with 3 fingered claws on each. Giganotosaurus was even larger than Tyrannosaurus Rex by at least 2 metres in length although it was not as large as Spinosaurus. Even though Giganotosaurus was larger than Tyrannosaurus Rex, its brain was only about half the size and their teeth were shorter, narrower and less visible than those of the tyrannosaurids. Giganotosaurus lived around 30 million years before Tyrannosaurus came along who was among the last dinosaurs to walk the Earth before the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction occurred 65 million years ago.

Giganotosaurus was a ferocious carnivore who probably preyed on huge herbivorous sauropods such as Titanosaur. Giganotosaurus might have been capable of running at speeds up to 14 metres per second (50 kilometres per hour/31 miles per hour) which means the slow moving sauropods would not have stood a chance of getting away.

Fossils of related carcharodontosaurid fossils grouped closely together may indicate pack hunting, a behaviour that could possibly extend to Giganotosaurus itself.

Giganotosaurus carolinii was named for Ruben Carolini, an amateur fossil hunter who, in 1993, discovered the fossils in deposits of Patagonia (southern Argentina) in what is now considered the Candeleros Formation. The skeleton was about 70% complete and included the skull, pelvis, leg bones and most of the backbone.