We were lucky not to meet them.
Let’s imagine that we have moved many millions of years ago and came face to face with prehistoric dinosaurs. More than 65 million years ago the Earth was inhabited by many monsters, but some still stood out even in their background. Science has managed to identify which of the dinosaurs were the most dangerous in history.
Tyrannosaurus
It is fair to start with him. Even if the “lizard-tyrant” was not the most lethal prehistoric predator, he was the most legendary dinosaur nowadays. And not only in popular culture (although it certainly played a role). T-Rex really was the most terrible of dinosaurs. The largest of complete skeletons of this creature gives a pretty good idea about its size. Its length was 12.3 m, height – 4 m. Weighed this lizard just under 7 tons. According to calculations, the back adult teeth meshed with a power up to 37 kN, which is approximately fifteen times greater than an adult lion.
All this suggests that the Tyrannosaurus was a kind of ultimate predator of the late Cretaceous period (he was one of the last saurischian dinosaurs at all). A kind of pinnacle of evolution of predatory dinosaurs. Another theory is that this is a just a scavenger, which, because of their size, were not able to hunt. Although the majority of scientists questioned this conclusion.
As a whole, and other beings from the family of tyrannosaurids, the genus of tyrannosaurs walked on two legs, had short front “arms”, a massive head and a long tail. Now this genus includes one species – the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Spinosaurus
No matter how dangerous nor was T. rex, but there was a larger predatory lizard. His name is spinosaurus. Representatives of this genus lived during the Cretaceous period about 100 million years ago. A distinctive feature of this dinosaur in a spine having an elongated long appendages that reached two meters in height. Thus, on the back of a dinosaur was a kind of sail. He probably performed the functions of thermoregulation, or he needed to attract partners for mating.
The skeletons of spinosaurus were found in North Africa. The best known species is Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, found in Egypt. Yet these dinosaurs continue to keep their secrets. For example, it is not clear what was the size of the largest representatives of this species. Based on the found remains, some experts claim that the dinosaurs reached a length of 18 m. Thus, the largest spinosaurs could significantly exceed the sizes of tyrannosaurs.
Spinosaurus had a long narrow snout and moved on two or four legs. In popular culture it’s the “double” T. rex. However, apparently, their way of life was very different. The structure of the skeleton suggests that before us the semblance of a huge crocodile. Apparently, the spinosaurus were semi-aquatic lifestyle and was a fish-eating predators.
Giganotosaurus
The three largest carnivorous dinosaurs and the giganotosaurus. Like other theropods, it moved on two legs. Giganotosaurus lived during the late Cretaceous period. If you talk about sizes, the largest of the found specimens reached a length of 13.2 m. As you can see, the size of a dinosaur comparable to those of T. rex. Meanwhile, scientists believe the latter is more dangerous predator. Unlike Tyrannosaurus Rex, giganotosaurus had developed binocular vision. His brain was also smaller in volume. All of this suggests that giganotosaurus was more primitive from an evolutionary point of view. But this does not mean that the meeting with this lizard did not promise major problems grazing sauropods.
Giganotosaurus belongs to the family of carcharodontosaurid. There is another very similar lizard, also lived in the Cretaceous period and, presumably, reaches 12.5 m in length. We are talking about carcharodontosaurus described in 1927. Thus, giganotosaurus, carcharodontosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and spinosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaurs from the number known to science.
Deinonychus
Evolution of predatory dinosaurs was not only on ways to increase the size of these creatures. It gave some speed, intelligence and a huge claw. Thanks to the claw deinonychus (Deinonychus is Latin for “terrible claw”) got its name. Located claw on the second finger of the hind limbs. However, it is still unclear whether they used it for hunting. Some believe that in the absence of cutting edges, by means of a claw it was hard to be the victim of injury. So the dinosaur could use it to climb trees and then jump onto other creatures, tearing at their bodies with sharp teeth.
Length dinosaur could reach 3.5 m and a weight of 70 kg. he Probably could run at speeds of over 40 km/h. the Structure of this creature is a sort of compromise between speed and physical strength. Something like we can see on the example of big cats. There is reason to believe that the dinosaurs were warm-blooded, and his body was covered with feathers, like modern birds. In fact, the forelimbs of the dinosaur were very similar to the wings (although he certainly couldn’t fly). Deinonychus and other such creatures clearly prove the fact that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
It is interesting that in the movie “Jurassic Park” Canonica called “VelociRaptor”. Meanwhile the VelociRaptor is very different from Canonica: it is significantly smaller (up to 1.8 m in length) and has a number of progressive anatomical traits.
Utahraptor
Imagine a dinosaur similar to canoniche, but reaching a length of 7 m. this creature was Utahraptor – quick, strong and has a good (speaking of dinosaurs) intellectual abilities. He lived about 130-120 million years ago, and his remains were found in North America. As in the case with its relative, deinonychus – this dinosaur had two large claws on the second digit of the hind paws. And, again, their structure does not allow to say with confidence that they were used for hunting.
Whatever it was, this dinosaur was very dangerous. Assuming that Utahraptor hunted in pack, they were a deadly threat even to the largest predators. Many believe that before us is neither more nor less top-predator of early Cretaceous period.
The interesting thing is how varied our perception of these creatures as new scientific discoveries. If you damonica and Utahraptor imagined without feathers (you can remember any of the movie series “Jurassic Park”), now they looked like giant birds.
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