🦈 CARCHARODONTOSAURUS: AFRICAN TERROR
PAGE 1 OF 5 — AFRICAN TERROR
SHARK LIZARD
THE AFRICAN GIANT
Carcharodontosaurus saharicus was one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs ever discovered. Its name means shark-toothed lizard, because its teeth look like the serrated blades of a great white shark. Fossils come from Late Cretaceous rocks in North Africa, when the Sahara was a land of rivers and forests. Adults reached about 12 to 13 metres long, rivalling the biggest tyrannosaurs and carcharodontosaurid relatives like Giganotosaurus. This predator sliced flesh with razor teeth instead of crushing bone. It shared its world with Spinosaurus, but the two giants hunted different prey in different ways. Carcharodontosaurus was the land terror of ancient Africa.
🦈 TERROR FACTS
📅 Late Cretaceous North Africa
📏 ~12 to 13 m long
🦷 Serrated shark-like slicing teeth
📏 ~12 to 13 m long
🦷 Serrated shark-like slicing teeth
TERROR!
TEETH
🦷 Each tooth was flat and saw-edged, perfect for carving huge chunks of meat from prey or scavenged carcasses.
🔪 The serrations worked like a steak knife, letting Carcharodontosaurus slice rather than crush its food.
🔪 The serrations worked like a steak knife, letting Carcharodontosaurus slice rather than crush its food.
NAME
🦈 Scientists named it after Carcharodon, the great white shark genus, because the teeth look so similar under a microscope.
📛 Carcharodontosaurus saharicus means shark-toothed lizard from the Sahara region.
📛 Carcharodontosaurus saharicus means shark-toothed lizard from the Sahara region.