Question from a Young Dinosaur Fan – Was Mapusaurus bigger than T. rex?
One of the many emails received this week was from a young dinosaur fan who asked the question was Mapusaurus from South America bigger than Tyrannosaurus rex?
Everything Dinosaur team members try their best to answer all the questions about dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals that are sent into them.
Was Mapusaurus Bigger than T. rex?
The first fossilised remains of the dinosaur we now know as Mapusaurus (Mapusaurus roseae) were discovered in 1997, however, not in Africa where many giant meat-eating dinosaurs roamed, but in central Argentina (South America). This dinosaur lived some thirty million years before Tyrannosaurus rex evolved. A number of these dinosaurs were found together, this suggests that they lived in a pack and they may have specialised in attacking the huge titanosaurs that shared their environment with them.
Mapusaurus Measurements
The biggest Mapusaurus specimen is approaching T. rex size at around twelve metres in length and perhaps weighing as much as six tonnes. This makes it only just smaller than the largest T. rex specimen known.
However, the teeth, jaws and skull of Mapusaurus was very different. Mapusaurus had a long, narrow, lighter skull, that was not as powerful as the Tyrannosaurus rex skull. It had more teeth in the jaw, but each tooth was thinner and narrower than typical T. rex teeth. The teeth were probably sharper but it did not have anywhere as near a powerful bite. Mapusaurus was probably a faster runner and more agile than T. rex.
A Model of the South American Dinosaur Mapusaurus (M. roseae)
Rose’s Earth Reptile – Mapusaurus. A replica of M. roseae, a dinosaur model in the CollectA Prehistoric Life model range.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The picture above is the model of the carnivorous dinosaur Mapusaurus, one of Everything Dinosaur’s toys and dinosaur models which is available on the company’s award-winning website.
To view the CollectA Prehistoric Life model range in stock at Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Prehistoric Life/Prehistoric World Figures.
Tyrannosaurus Rex the measuring stick for all dinosaurs lol. Tyrannosaurus Rex may have been matched in size by other giant theropods but T Rex was more robust more intelligent and had a more powerful bite, in other words Henry Fairfield Osborn was spot on when he named it the Tyrant Lizard King! Well except for the Lizard part lol
mapusaurus was 46 feet long and weighed more than the tyrannosaurus rex, the trex was a scavenger, to many people think its a blood thirsty predator, its arm were to small to grab its prey, and it had such a strong bite likely to crack bones and reach the nutrition rich bone marrow , if it were to exceed over 12 mph its leg bone would break, trex were not predators and would stay probably stay way from late cretaceous allosaurus like siats. this gives a clear advantage to the mapusaurus , it was bigger, it had long claws for scratching its prey, and it was far faster than the scavenger trex, and it would have been far more agile , the mapusaurus might not have been smarter but it would have EASILY, taken down a trex if they met, due to the real lifestyle of the trex its about time that trex fanboys learn the truth about this prehistoric vulture.
The largest Mapusaurus was on the lower end of the T-Rex size, it also did not weigh more then an adult T-Rex.
T-Rex was also proven to not be a scavenger. It was both a hunter and a scavenger like any other predator alive past or present.
The T-Rex was simply to large and required to much food daily to be a sole scavenger.
T-Rex has all the tools to be the perfect apex predator of it’s time but also had the size and weight to scare off any other rivals.
T-Rex’s steady speed was 12 to 14 mph but could run up to 18 to 20 mph for short bursts for an ambush attack. Much like a Crocodile does today.
If these two were to fight there is no way a Mapusaurus would ”EASILY” take out a T-Rex. It has a potential to take down a T-Rex but unless it was able to knock a Rex over and deliver a killing blow the battle will not be in it’s favor Rex’s were also proven to take serious wounds from other Rex’s and one bite from there jaws and it’s game over for Mapusaurus. T-Rex would win this battle more often then not, but it wouldn’t be a flawless factory.
lol, t rex being a scavenger was proven wrong. It hunted trceratops, t rex hater.
triceratops*
Current estimates: T.Rex – 7.1 tonnes, Mapusaurus – 3 tonnes
Mapusaurus is 13.1 meters long and weights more than 9.1 tons while T.rex is 12.6 meters long and weights 10.6 tons .
So, there roughly same in size but T.rex has better bite force, bigger brain, more muscular and bulkier body which give T.rex the major advantages in this fight.
But if T.rex fought Giganotosaurus or Carcharodontosaurus then the result will be probably different