Carcharodontosaurus, also nicknamed the “African T-Rex”, was one of the largest carnivorous theropods, being larger than Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, to which it is related, but possibly smaller than Spinosaurus and Giganotosaurus. It is thought to have been the second largest member of the family Carcharodontosauridae. Its name comes from the Greek karchar[os] – „serrated, sharp” and odōn – “teeth”, followed by the suffix saurus – "reptile".
Carcharodontosaurus lived in North Africa, in the Middle Cretaceous, 105 – 94 million years ago. It was a carnivorous dinosaur that reached up to 12.0 – 13.3 meters in length, with a height of up to 3.5 – 4.0 meters at the hips and a weight of up to 7.2 – 8.0 tons. It had huge jaws, with long and serrated teeth that reached up to 20 cm. These teeth were specialized for piercing and tearing the flesh of prey, more precisely the large sauropod Paralititan and an iguanodont named Ouranosaurus.
Carcharodontosaurus had a large head and relatively short but powerful forelimbs, which were longer than those of Tyrannosaurus rex. Its clawed hands could grasp smaller prey. It had long, muscular hindlimbs and may have been capable of reaching 32 km/h, although its large body makes this estimate uncertain.
The skull shape and inner-ear anatomy of Carcharodontosaurus are similar to those of modern crocodilians. The region of the brain associated with smell was also very large, suggesting that its sense of smell may have been more acute than that of modern dogs and comparable to that of Tyrannosaurus. Its hearing was also very sharp, but it had relatively limited vision, due to the position of its eyes on the sides of its head, instead of in front.
The first fossils were found in Algeria in 1924, specifically two teeth that had, at the time, unique characteristics. A few years later, paleontologist Ernst Stromer correlated the two teeth with fossils of a partial skull and skeleton discovered in 1914. These consisted of a partial skull, teeth, vertebrae, claws, and hip and leg bones.
