Giganotosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993, and is almost 70% complete. Estimates for the most complete specimen range from a length of 12 to 13 m, a skull 1. 53 to 1. 80 m in length, and a weight of 4. 2 to 13. 8 t.
About Giganotosaurus in brief
Giganotosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Argentina, during the early Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous period. The holotype specimen was discovered in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia in 1993, and is almost 70% complete. Estimates for the most complete specimen range from a length of 12 to 13 m, a skull 1. 53 to 1. 80 m in length, and a weight of 4. 2 to 13. 8 t. The genus attracted much interest and became part of a scientific debate about the maximum sizes of Theropod dinosaurs. Some researchers have found the animal to be larger than Tyrannosaurus, while others have found them to be roughly equal in size. The genus name translates as \”giant southern lizard\” and the specific name honors the discoverer, Rubén D. Carolini. The specimen is now housed in the Ernesto Bachmann Paleontological Museum in Villa El Chocón, which was inaugurated in 1995. This is the first museum of the Mesozoic Era with one of the first known dinosaurs of interest, with the discovery of the tibia of Giganotososaurus Carolini the first of its kind. It is thought to have been homeothermic with a metabolism between that of a mammal and a reptile, which would have enabled fast growth. It may have been relatively fast moving, with a calculated maximal running speed of 14 ms. It would have been capable of closing its jaws quickly, capturing and bringing down prey by delivering powerful bites.
The front of the lower jaw was flattened, and had a downwards projecting process at the tip. The neck was strong and the pectoral girdle proportionally small. The skull was low, with rugose nasal bones and a ridge-like crest on the lacrimal bone in front of the eye. The teeth were compressed sideways and had serrations, and may have fed on juvenile sauropod dinosaurs. A mounted reconstruction of the skeleton is exhibited in an adjacent room of the museum, along with tools used by paleontologists during the excavation. The skeleton is the main exhibition at the museum and is placed on the sandy floor of a room devoted to the animal, along along with the tools used with the animal. The specific name of the genus and species is Giganotoesaurus carolinii. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek words gigas, notos, and -sauros-τας, meaning ‘giant lizard’ or ‘lizard of the southern hemisphere’ It is the most completely known member of the group, which includes other very large theropods, such as the closely related Mapusaurus and Carcharodontosaurus. The fossil was discovered by an amateur fossil hunter while driving a dune buggy in the Neuquén province of Argentina, and included most of the vertebral column, the femora, and the left tibia and fibula.
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This page is based on the article Giganotosaurus published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
