This summer the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia will be the only museum in the world to display a mounted Giganotosaurus, the largest carnivorous dinosaur that ever walked the earth. On Friday, May 16, the Academy will unveil the skull for the first time ever and host a panel discussion that will include the paleontologist credited with its discovery, Dr. Rodolfo Coria of Argentina. Starting June 13, visitors can see the fully mounted Giganotosaurus, standing nose to nose with Tyrannosaurus rex, when it becomes a permanent member of the Academy's Dinosaur Hall. This will be the first meeting of these two ferocious giants in the history of the earth!
BACKGROUND: In 1995, scientists from Argentina announced the discovery of a meat-eating dinosaur that was as big or BIGGER than the Academy's North American T. rex. This new dinosaur is called Giganotosaurus carolinii, meaning "Carolini's giant southern reptile." The specimen was found in the Nuquen Province of Argentina by a man named Ruben Carolini.
Giganotosaurus (JY-ga-NO-toe-SAW-rus) lived about 95 million years ago in the early part of the Late Cretaceous Period. T. rex and Giganotosaurus, therefore lived 25 to 30 million years apart and on different continents. The two would never have met face to face until now.
Giganotosaurus is not just a slightly bigger version of Tyrannosaurus; it is an entirely different model. The skull of Giganotosaurus, at about 6 ft. long, is proportionally larger than the skull of T. rex. The upper leg bone (femur) of Giganotosaurus is longer than the femur of the largest T. rex, but the lower leg is shorter, making both animals about 15 feet high at the hip. Giganotosaurus also has smaller arms (with three fingers), and its teeth are more-flattened and dagger-like than the teeth of T. rex. These features indicate that Giganotosaurus belongs to the group of meat eating dinosaurs that includes the familiar North American Allosaurus and the very large Carcharodontosaurus that was recently found in Africa, but not Tyrannosaurus.
When these two giants meet at the Academy in June, visitors will be able to examine both skeletons at the same time and debate for themselves which dinosaur was bigger, faster, stronger, meaner. One thing to remember: the Academy's Tyrannosaurus rex is not the largest ever found. Likewise with only a single specimen of Giganotosaurus known, it is likely that additional discoveries will show that this terrible lizard grew even larger than the one we see here.
For more information about Giganotosaurus at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, please call Leeanne Schmidt in the Academy's Media Relations Department at 215/299-1066 (email: [email protected]), or Susan McCoy of IMPACT Marketing at 610/869-4151 (email: [email protected]).
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