Most Dangerous Dinosaur

TOP 10 : The Most Dangerous Dinosaur !

The word “dinosaur” makes everyone think of dangerous animals that you would not want to cross paths with. But it appears that some are even more dangerous than others. Here is a top 10 of the most dangerous species that have existed. 

 

 

 

 10 : DIPLODOCUS

 

 

Like every dinosaur, diplodocus was a kind of extinct animal. It was a gigantic herbivorous sauropod. After some discoveries have been made, scientists deducted that it lived in North America. On the time scale, it is during the superior Jurassic period.

Diplodocus was one of the easiest dinosaurs to identified. Indeed, it is a very tall animal with its 6 meters long neck, formed with 15 vertebrae. The length of its neck is a big advantage for the animal. Being an herbivore, its neck makes it easier for them to access a bigger quantity of food on the ground or in height.

Its long tail measuring 6 meters minimum looks like a whisk. Its upper limbs are smaller than its hind legs. So, diplodocus present a horizontal posture. Thanks to its morphological characteristics, this dinosaur seems to be a hanging bridge.

Since it is herbivorous, we could ask ourselves why is diplodocus a dangerous dinosaur? The fact that this animal is 30 meters long makes it dangerous. Not only it has a long tail, but it is thin, so they can use it as a whisk when there is a predator. They use it at a great speed. Also, like many dinosaurs, diplodocus can crush its opponents with its paws.

 

9 : VELOCIRAPTORS

 

 

 

This bipedal carnivorous dinosaur has lived 75 million years before humans existed. Its name means « rapid thief ». Its powerful jaws have almost 80 teeth, even if teeth aren't the only thing that makes a dinosaur dangerous ! In fact, if you've ever wondered What Dinosaur Has 500 Teeth, we've written an article on the subject and the answer will surprise you.

It was between 1,5 and 2 meters long and 75 cm high. It weighed 15 to 20 kilograms. Its hind legs had retractable claws. These claws could badly hurt a prey or use them to defend itself. It had a rigid tail which help it maintain its balance. 

One of the velociraptor’s characteristics is its small and flat head. But for an animal its size, his brain was relatively big. It also had a tridimensional vision.

Its living environments were the savannah and moderately arid regions. Scientific discoveries confirmed its presence in China and Mongolia.

Thanks to recent discoveries, we now know that velociraptors were covered in feathers. But these feathers were not numerous enough for them to fly like birds. Its hind leg’s size made flying impossible. We suppose that these feathers had a body temperature regulation function.

With its size, you could think it was a harmless animal. But that is not true. Indeed, its powerful and long claws made them very dangerous.  It stabbed its preys, but they could sometimes escape and survive. Thanks to its speed that could go up to 40 km/h, it was able to attack quickly which is useful to hunt but also get away from potential predators.

 

8 : MAPUSAURUS ROSEAE

 

 

 

Meaning « Earth lizard », Mapusaurus was a dinosaur from the superior Cretaceous period. From certain discoveries, we know that Mapusaurus was originated from South America. Mapusaurus had an imposing height of 12 meters. It’s a dinosaur very close with Tyrannosaurus Rex. For many years, it was confused for Spinausaurus. Very sociable, Mapusaurus was one of the few dinosaurs that lived among a community.

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From its whole body, its head was the most impressive. Indeed, its skull was a characteristic that was similar to Giganotosaurus. Their differences were the thickness of the front of their skull. The openings had a round-shape that were more important. Without these characteristics, we would classify Mapusaurus in the Giganotosaurus family instead of the Cacharodontosauridae family.

The information on this dinosaur family is recent and incomplete. But we know it was gigantic and fierce. The fact that they lived and hunted as a community made them very dangerous. The other dinosaurs did not stand a chance when they were attacked by a herd of Mapusaurus roseae.

 

7 : COELOPHYSIS

 

 

 

This theropod dinosaur with a « hollow shape » as its name mentions it, it is one of the first dinosaurs ever discovered. It was from the inferior Jurassic period and was one of the rare dinosaurs that had fossils discovered in multiple continents. Fossils have been found in the USA as well as in Zimbabwe (Africa).

Coelophysis was around 3 meters long and maybe more. Its long tail was half its body. It had a similar size as a human. Coelophysis was 1 meter high for 15 to 20 kilograms.

It had a narrow mouth which was very flexible. That could allow them to capture their small preys very quickly. It had curved back and sharped teeth. This dinosaur hunted with a group. Coelophysis had a similar life to wolves today as they both are part of a community. This sense of community made Coelophysis very dangerous to other dinosaurs that lived on their own (even though it was a small dinosaur).

After further research, we think that Coelophyisis was cannibalistic, a characteristic that made them very dangerous.

 

6 : ALLOSAURUS

 

 

 

As its name suggests, the « different lizard » is a theropod. It lived during the superior Jurassic period. Discoveries made about Allosaurus showed that it lived in North America and in Europe.

Allosaurus is a part of the first dinosaurs ever discovered. It has been the object of many studies. So, we know a lot of information about them. Allosaurus is in most of movies and documentaries. So, it has a high profile among the general audience.

Allosaurus was a biped. His robust body ended with a long tail. It had large arms with three clawed fingers. Its neck was shaped as an S and ended by a large head which was thin. Allosaurus’s jaws were equipped with sharped curved teeth.

As a dangerous predator, Allosaurus was endowed with a horn and many other anatomical characteristics that distinguished it from other dinosaur predators that could look alike. His length is estimated to 8,50 to 12 meters. Its average weigh as an adult was between 1000 to 4000 kilograms.

Carnivorous, Allosaurus found itself on top of the food chain. Its preys were made of herbivorous dinosaurs of different sizes. It did not hesitate to attack large dinosaurs like Camarasaurus sauropods to feed itself.

Allosaurus used their powerful superior jaws as an ax. A deadly weapon for most dinosaurs, especially if they attacked as a group. Very organized, they prepared ambushes to catch their preys.

 

5 : ANKYLOSAURUS

 

 

 

As it name suggests, the « rigid lizard » is a herbivorous dinosaur. Different discoveries made about them showed that they lived in North America. We can say that they lived during the Maastrichtian period which was 72,1 million years ago.

As an adult, Ankylosaurus was 10 meters long and 1,7 meters high for 4 tons. It had four paws. Its jaws were equipped with a small number of teeth. So, it could swallow grass without masticating too much.  

Ankylosaurus had a particularity, its armor. It was made with bone plates on its skin. As a comparison, it was like a crocodile’s skin. We think that a keratin layer was covering the bone. On the top of its skull, there were 4 large pyramidical horns. These plates protected the animal during predator’s attacks. Nevertheless, the animal’s abdomen did not present any plates. So, they would lay on their stomach to protect their abdomen during a fight. 

We can think that, as an herbivore, Ankylosaurus was a defenseless animal. Which was not the case. Indeed, it had a tail like a mace. This body part also presented bone plates. By maneuvering its tail thanks to its muscles, the animal could break its predator’s bones During a duel with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Ankylosaurus could win if it aimed the dreadful carnivore’s head correctly. It just needed to use its tail mace.

 

4 : MAJUNGASAURUS

 

 

 

As it names suggests, the « Mahajanga lizard » is a theropod subclade. Discoveries made about this dinosaur reveal that it lived in Madagascar during the superior Cretaceous. This bipedal dinosaur had a particular characteristic, the size of its snout, which was quite small.

Its average length was about 7 meters long and 3 meters high. Its average weight as an adult was about a ton. But the larger the animal is, the more certain we are it was heavier than a ton.

We do not have a lot of information on Majungasaurus, but we are convinced that its upper limbs were small. A its hind legs, they were large and robust. Its skull was very large as well. A distinctive sign was that its skull had a one curved horn which looked like a dome.

The two Majungasaurus jaws presented a very big number of teeth. In its habitat, it was above all predators. Its principal preys were Sauropods. Many studies on Majungasaurus showed that we are certain they were cannibals.

Majungasaurus was the daily terror of small and herbivorous dinosaurs. In top of being notable cannibalistic, they could also have been scavengers.

 

3 : SPINOSAURUS

 

 

 

Spinosaurus was a dinosaur that lived during the inferior and superior Cretaceous period. Thanks to discoveries made about them, we know that they lived in the current Maghreb region. Information gathered thanks to the fossil of one Spinosaurus showed that this dinosaur had four paws and was semi-aquatic.

Spinosaurus was characterized by a thin and long snout. Its jaws presented cone shaped teeth. Its skull looked like a current crocodile’s skull. Its food regiment was made of aquatic species as well as small sized dinosaurs.

Spinosaurus had a nasal crest as a distinctive characteristic, which was between its eyes.

Spinosaurus was 15 meters long for 10 tons. Thanks to very advanced recent research, we think that it was the largest carnivore to have ever existed on Earth. We can only imagine the fear that other terrestrial or aquatic species felt when they encountered a Spinosaurus. It could swim perfectly.

Spinosaurus was a very dangerous predator that could jump out at any moment from the bottom of aquatic grounds to attack small dinosaurs. In the water, it acted exactly as a crocodile. They had identical jaws. It was a big opponent to Sarcosuchus, which was a crocodile with a similar size to spinosaurus.

 

2 : TYRANNOSAURUS REX

 

 

 

Tyrannosaurus lived in the current North America during the superior Maastrichtian period. As it names suggests, the « king of lizard tyrants » is well-known in the scientific world and in the general audience. There is not one documentary or movie about dinosaurs, without this famous bipedal predator. Often considered as the strongest dinosaur, its body ended with a long tail that could allow them to balance their impressive skulls. It has small and atrophied arms. Its upper limbs ended with two clawed fingers. It could reach 13,2 meters in length. It’s possible that they had competitors of the same size. But we are certain it is the most dangerous carnivore that has ever existed on Earth.

Indeed, this dinosaur could be up to 4 meters high. It could weigh 8 tons. This very dangerous predator found itself with very rare dinosaurs during its existence and was on top of the food chain. Its principal preys were made of consequent size herbivores. It attacked Ceratopsids most of the time. We also think it fed on dead animal corps.

Tyrannosaurus-Rex was bigger than Allosaurus, which lived during the same period as the “king of tyrant’s lizards”. However, it was still smaller than the most dangerous dinosaur: The Giganotosaurus.

Tyrannosaurus-Rex had an amazing vision which allowed it to see very far away, which was very useful to hunt if that was the case. It could also be a possibility that this animal has had feathers.

 

1 : GIGANOTOSAURUS

 

 

 

As it names suggest, the « giant southern lizard » lived in South America as the most dangerous dinosaur, during the beginning of the superior Cretaceous period. The available information on this dinosaur doesn’t allow us to know its size.

However, we estimate its size to 15 meters long, 3,5 to 4,5 meters high and 8 to 10 tons. So, its size would exceed the T-Rex’s size. It certainly deserves its name.

In comparison to Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus had a terrible vision, which didn’t prevent it to be the most dangerous dinosaur on Earth. Well above the food chain, its preys were large herbivores. We think that Giganotosaurus hunted with a group, which made them even more dangerous.