The Supersaurus meaning ’super lizard’ was discovered in Colorado in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in 1972, and was officially named by Jim Jensen the Supersaurus vivianae in 1985.

A member of the Diplodocid family these sauropods were a group of dinosaurs which comprised of some of the largest species ever to exist. In terms of height and weight these dinosaurs were big, but what was fascinating about them was their massive length.

Physical Appearance

Being a part of the Diplodocid family we already know the Supersaurus was a 4 legged herbivore with immense proportions but other common features include an extremely small head, pegged teeth and of course an extremely long tail to counter balance its massive neck.

Fossil remains suggest that the Supersaurus could reach lengths of up to 115 ft, and a weigh up to 35 to 40 tonnes.

Jim The Supersaurus

The problem with the Supersaurus fossil discovered in 1972 was that only a few specimens from the neck vertebrae and the shoulder girdle were found. These evidences are enough to determine the massive extent of its size as well as certain basic characteristics but other than that all other characteristics had to be borrowed from other members of the Diplodocid family.

Thankfully in 1996 an entire specimen of the Supersaurus was unearthed in Douglas, Wyoming which over time and much study will clarify and put to rest the various discrepancies and anomalies associated with the Supersaurus.

Behavioral Patterns

Despite having extremely long necks, according to new calculations Diplodocids like the Supersaurus probably couldn’t reach up as high as was first thought. In fact many scientists believe they were unable to lift their necks much higher than their shoulders, which would limit them to eating and browsing leafy twigs and low growing ferns.

Despite a limit on lifting their necks, the extreme length they possessed would still have assisted them in grazing and finding food over large areas. This would suggest their ideal habitat may have been large open meadows and swampy marsh lands rich in greenery.

The neck may have been great at searching and covering large distances but what about the equally long tail, what was that used for ? Well scientists have speculated that the tail which gets narrower and lighter towards the tip was probably capable of an extremely powerful whipping action which could have been used to snap at and ward off deadly marauders and predators.

Taking this idea further some scientists believe the snapping action may have been powerful enough to produce deafening sounds which could have been used in defence, mating or even long distance communication.

The Giganotosaurus existed during the Turonian stage of the late cretaceous period about 90 million years ago. It was first discovered in 1995 in the Argentinean region of Patagonia at the Rio Limay Formation by Ruben Carolini. The meaning of the name stems from the Greek word ‘gigas’ meaning giant, ‘notos’ referring to the south and the term ‘saurus’ meaning lizard, giving us the ‘giant southern lizard’

As its name suggests the Giganotosaurus is considered by scientists to be the largest of the terrestrial carnivorous dinosaurs, even larger than the ferocious predator Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Taxonomy

The Giganotosaurus was a member of the Carcharodauntosaurid dinosaurs who were a group of ultra large theropod dinosaurs. The Carcharodauntosaurid family contained some of the largest carnivorous predators of all time, apart from the Giganotosaurus other members included the Mapusaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and the Tyrannotitan. The family to surpass the Carcharodauntosaurids in size were the Spinosaurids.

Physical Features

The Giganotosaurus was a mammoth sized carnivore which measured around 45 ft in length and weighed a little over 6 tonnes, surpassing the T. Rex by a small margin. Like most Theropods the Giganotosaurus had a prominently visible and large head and is believed to have possessed the longest skull among the various theropod dinosaurs.

With such a large skull there was space for a very well developed olfactory region suggesting an extremely sharp sense of smell. However it’s worth mentioning at this point that skull size isn’t everything, as despite the Giganotosaurus having a larger skull its brain was almost half the size of the Tyrannosaurus.

Now compared to the T. Rex whose teeth were ideal at snapping and cutting through bone, the Giganotosaurus had much smaller, narrower and more evenly sized teeth. This would have made them ideal for slicing flesh and leaving deep cuts in their victims as opposed to the bone crushing effect that the T. Rex had.

Behavioral Patterns & Hunting

Thanks to its size, scientists believe the Giganotorsaurs was more than capable of going after the super sized herbivores such as the Argentinosaurus and the Titanosaurus. In fact Titanosaur fossils were found extremely close to those of the Giganotosaurus making this an even higher possibility.

In terms of hunting style unlike the Tyrannosaurus who was a solitary hunter scientists believe the Giganotosaurus may well have been a pack hunter. The reason for this stems from the study of the other Carcharodauntosaurid dinosaurs whose fossils were often discovered in groups, indicating a collective hunting or herd like grouping. With the Giganotosaurus this is even more likely as going after the super sized herbivore giants would have been no easy task on ones own, but as a pack it may well have worked quite well.

The Tyrannosaurus or T. Rex existed in the late cretaceous period some 65 million years ago. A carnivorous dinosaur and an extremely popular icon in todays movie culture this dinosaur is probably one of the most talked and read about dinosaurs ever to have existed. With some amazing scenes in both Jurassic Park and the recent King Kong movie it’s no wonder he’s so popular.

The name Tyrannosaurus Rex means ‘Tyrant Lizard King’ which stems from the Greek word ‘tyranno’ meaning tyrant, ’saurus’ meaning lizard and ‘rex’ meaning king. The grand name comes directly from the fact that the T. Rex was most probably one of the largest and most terrifying carnivores of its time.

Taxonomy

The Tyrannosaurus a bipedal theropod was a part of the Tyrannosaurid family which existed in most parts of western north America as well as some parts of Asia. For a long time it was believed that the T. Rex was the largest carnivorous dinosaur of them all, but that was before the Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus were discovered.

Despite not being the largest of the carnivores it was still the largest member of the Tyrannosaurid family and of course recognised as one of the fiercest land predators ever to exist. Over time scientists have classified and re-classified discoveries in and out of this group as quite clearly the tyrannosaurid group is a bench mark in its own right.

As an example in 1955 Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev named a new species called Tyrannosaurus bataar which was discovered in Mongolia. By 1965 this species had been regrouped adn renamed to Tarbosaurus bataar. Despite the renaming it’s still thought of being a close sister and asian version of the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Physical Appearance

At over 20 ft tall, 40 ft long and weighing up to 8 tonnes the Tyrannosaurus was longer than the width of a tennis court, heavier than an african bull elephant and tall enough to look into an upstairs window. It’s massive legs bore its weight on three large, bird like clawed toes, whilst its arms which despite being extremely short were strong and powerful with 2 clawed digits.

Large Skull

One feature that stood out in all Tyrannosaurids was the size of their skull. In simple words it was huge and at 5ft long the skull was almost half as long as the backbone between the hips and the head. The head was basically the size of a small car and considered huge even for dinosaurs.

To support such a large head the T. Rex had an extremely short but muscular neck giving it extra strength and allowing it to stabilise the head as it moved. Obviously a huge skull meant plenty of room for large teeth which were so hard that they were known to penetrate even bone.

All these characteristics meant that the Tyrannosaurus Rex had one the strongest bite forces of any dinosaur that ever existed. The pressure exerted in a single bite was equivalent to around 4 tonnes per square inch. Obviously with such a mean bite teeth are bound to be lost which luckily for the T. Rex and the rest of the tyrannosaurid family grew back throughout its life.

Vision & Smell

The T. Rex had a small brain in proportion to its body, but even so it was larger than most other dinosaurs. Its eyes were positioned on the front of the skull which is very similar to the way human eyes are positioned, and would have meant its ability to focus and judge distance objects was very good.

Scientists also believe that a large portion of the brain was allocated to smelling making the T. Rex a very strong sniffer. If you combine the strength of the eyes with the strong sense of smell you very quickly appreciate how these two natural abilities would have made the Tyrannosaurus a very effective predator.

The Tail

As well as a large head the Tyrannosaurus also possessed an equally large and stiff tail. Most scientists believed the weight of the tail would have meant it dragged on the floor as it moved, however more recent studies challenged this stating that the tails weight formed a counter balance to the extremely heavy head. If this were the case then it would actually be carried in the air to counter the heavy head which would have been in a forward leaning position.

Tiny Arms

Despite having arms that were only 2-3 ft long they were still however extremely muscular and able to support hundreds of pounds of weight.

So what were these arms used for ? Well a number of theories are plausible and one of them is that the arms were used to assist the T. Rex whilst lifting itself off the floor. Others say that the two sharp claws on each arm were used to hold its prey whilst it devoured them with its mouth.

A Quick Size Comparison

When we start to talk about the Tyrannosaurus and its huge head it’s very easy to forget what it’s overall size was in comparison to the long necked sauropod herbivores. Some examples include the Sauroposeidon which is the tallest known dinosaur and stood at 55 ft (17 metres) in height, the T-Rex as you can see was almost a third of its height.

In fact there were even larger sauropods such as the Argentinasaurus who was 115 ft long (35 metres) and weighing between 80-100 tonnes. Compare that to the T. Rex which was only 6-8 tonnes and 40 ft in length and you quickly realise the size difference. We throw this section in because most readers get so amazed with the grandness and power of the T. Rex that they often forget his overall size in comparison with the rest of the dinosaurs.

T-Rex Top Speed

The Tyrannosaurus Rex had one of the strongest not to mention longest legs of any Theropod. These massive legs combined with three huge toes on each foot meant the T. Rex was able to take very long strides covering distances of up to 15 ft with each step, thus giving it a top speed of around 25 mph.

Behavioral Patterns & Hunting

It’s thought that the T. Rex probably lived close to its prey which were in most cases plant eating herbivores. This would imply that its primary dwelling would have been near forests, open woodland, rivers and valleys rich in plant life.

We know the T. Rex was probably well suited to hunting but how it hunted is an issue up for debate. Most scientists feel that due to the lack of fossil evidence suggesting group hunting, it was most likely a solitary hunter.

How it fared against other dinosaurs who did hunt and exist in packs is an interesting question. Some have said the T. Rex possessed such a powerful bite that this alone would have been a huge deterrant and factor in maintaining its superiority over other large dinosaurs and pack hunters.

It’s absolutely certain that the Tyrannosaurus would have eaten large dinosaurs if they were already dead but may also have attacked animals that were either too young, sick or old to protect themselves. Some scientists believe this behaviour is scavenger like whilst others feel it’s just a fact of life.

T. Rex Prey

In terms of what and who it preyed upon, there’s fossil evidence to suggest it commonly consumed both Triceratops and the duck-billed Hadrosaurs such as the Corythosaurus. In most cases scientists feel that an initial power bite would have severely crippled its prey causing massive blood loss. This would eventually cause its prey to lose strength and even collapse. At this point the T. Rex could quickly use both its foot claws and mouth to finish off its opponent.

Fossils

In total around 30 Tyrannosaurus Rex fossils have been recovered with the first T. Rex fossil being discovered in 1902 by Barnum Brown in South Eastern Montana, USA. Most other T-Rex fossils were also found in this region but some have also been found in Canada and parts of Asia such as Mongolia.

The Eoraptor existed during the early Triassic period some 228 million years ago and is considered to be one of the predecessors of all latter day dinosaurs. Discovered in the Ischigualasto formation of Argentina in 1991, its near complete skeleton displayed many characteristics dating it to well before even the Herrerasaurus and putting it only a little time after the recently discovered Prosauropods in Madagascar.

Taxonomy

The Eoraptor was a bipedal carnivorous theropod dinosaur and belonged to the Saurischian group of Dinosaurs. The Saurischians refer to the lizard hipped dinosaurs and the Eoraptor was considered to be one of them due to its hip structure.

The single known species of the Eoraptor is known as the Eoraptor Lunensis which was named based on the ancient river valley in South America from where its remains were unearthed. The full name means ‘dawn plunderer from the valley of the moon’ which stems from the Greek word ‘eos’ meaning ‘dawn’ and the term ‘lunensis’ which means ‘of the moon’ in Latin.

Physical Features

At just 1m long and 24kg in weight this tiny dinosaur was extremely similar to the theropods that existed many years later. As a carnivore with predatory instincts the Eoraptor is believed to have been a swift and fast runner. The forelimbs were much shorter compared to those of the hind limbs and according to popular perception they were not used for the purpose of walking.

The forelimbs consisted of 5 digits with 3 of them being slightly longer and possessing sharp claws. Its presumed these sharper digits were used for hunting and killing of the Eoraptors prey. The remaining 2 were considered useless for hunting. Unlike the fore limbs the legs consisted of only three digits which were all pointed with claws.

The eoraptors were extremely intelligent and swift moving and many consider them to be miniature versions of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. At the end of the long neck, the Eoraptor possessed a skull which in comparison to the rest of its body was extremely strong and comprised of a set of hollow bones. The eyes were placed on the sides and the jaws were constituted by innumerable sets of serrated teeth.

Behavioral Patterns & Hunting

In simple terms the Eoraptor was a meat eater which fed on other small lizards and mammal like creatures. When hunting its prey the jagged edges of its teeth combined with its sharp claws enabled it to capture and tear the flesh of its prey. With a healthy appetite it’s likely that the Eoraptor was most likely also extremely fierce and aggressive as a species.

While most paleontologists and scientists would refer to the Eoraptor as a carnivore, there are various evidences to suggest that this saurischian dinosaur was also a consumer of plant matter. The presence of five digits on the forelimb combined with certain kinds of herbivorous teeth have fuelled the possiblity that due to its early nature, it may have been an omnivore.