Giganotosaurus

This dinosaur’s name means “giant southern lizard.” It was given its name by Rodolfo Coria and Leonardo Salgado in 1995. Its fossils have been found in modern-day Argentina in South America.

Giganotosaurus was one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs ever, alongside Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus rex. It stood at approximately 13–14 feet tall, weighed eight or more tons, and reached lengths of over 40 feet.

Giganotosaurus
Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com), CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

This large theropod had long arms that may have helped it to grip and slash at prey. It had three fingers on each hand, common to most theropods. Its skull could be up to six feet long, filled with serrated teeth perfect for slicing through its prey rather than crushing bone. Some of its teeth were up to eight inches long.

Some evidence suggests that this animal hunted titanosaurs (can you guess what their name means?) They were massive sauropods—the largest dinosaurs. If Giganotosaurus hunted huge titanosaurs, they might have hunted in groups, as taking on such large prey alone would be incredibly dangerous.

October is “dinosaur month!” Every weekday of this month, you can come back to our Kids site to read about my 20 favorite dinosaurs. I hope you’ll join me!