Allosaurus

Allosaurus was a large carnivorous biped of the dinosaur era, which had a very large head, which was balanced only by his very long, very heavy tail.

In what is now the United States, Allosaurus was the largest common predator dinosaur.

It lived about 100 million years ago, in the Jurassic period of Earth, sharing the land with Diplodocus, and Stegosaurus.

Allosaurus

Each of these dinosaurs was herbivores and probably spelled dinner to Allosaurus.

Typical for a theropod, Allosaurus had a huge massive skull on a very short stocky neck, and tiny arms/forearms. He also had something unique to only him.
He had a pair of horns, above and in front of his eyes.

His front feet were short in comparison to his hind quarters, but had extremely well muscled forelimbs, that culminated in razor sharp talons on the fingers of that hand.

His skull tells scientists that it was composed of separated pieces which could be disjointed, allowing him to swallow enormous chunks of meat whole.
His bones were hollow and like bird bones, very light.

He averaged a height of about thirty feet tall, and the largest one found to date measured about thrity two feet tall.

Supposedly he topped even the great T Rex for height. Some of his remains and evidence of his life have been found in Colorado, new Mexico, Utah, South Dakota, Montana and Nebraska. There have also been finds of Allosaurus in Portugal.

“One of the more significant finds was the 1991 discovery of “Big Al” a 95% complete, partially articulated, specimen that measured 7.5-8 meters (24-26 feet) in length. Nineteen bones were broken or showed signs of infection, which probably contributed to Big Al’s death.”

Allosaurus

This skeleton was initially discovered by a Swiss team, led by Kirby Siber. The same team later excavated a second Allosaurus, “Big Al Two”, which is the best preserved skeleton of its kind to date.

Strange Facts

An allosaurid (ankle bone) was found at Cape Patterson Victoria in early Cretaceous beds in Southeastern Australia. This is notable as this part of Australia lay within the Antarctic at the time.

Find out more about the Allosaurus over at Wikipedia »