NAME

Meaning - Giganotosaurus means “giant southern lizard”
Pronounced - jig-a-NOT-oh-SAWR-us
Named By - Rodolfo Coria and Leonardo Salgado
When Named - 1995
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater) - it ate large, plant-eating dinosaurs.
SIZE

Length - 44-46 ft (13.5-14.3 m) long
Height - 13 ft (3.9 m) tall at the hips
Weight - 8 tons
WHEN IT LIVED

Middle Cretaceous period, about 110-95 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in the Patagonia region of Argentina (in southern Argentina, South America).
FOSSILS

What has been Found - It is known from fossil skeletons.
Who Found the Fossils - Giganotosaurus was first found by Ruben Carolini (hence the species name, G. carolinii ) in 1994.
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
  • Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods
  • Infraorder Carnosauria
  • Family Allosauridae
  • Genus Giganotosaurus
  • Species G. carolinii (type species named by Coria and Salgado, 1995)
INTERESTING FACTS

Giganotosaurus was longer than T. rex!
LINKS

A detailed page on Giganotosaurus.
A printout on Giganotosaurus