The Largest Jurassic Carnivore To Ever Exist

When you think of the king of the Jurassic, you may think of the Allosaurus. And no one blames you, it is afterall one terrifying theropod. However, there was another carnivore that lived alongside it, that not only dwarfed it, but also outsized all other Jurassic carnivores, it was the Saurophaganax.

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Artwork in thumbnail by Joanna Kobierska

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[exalt]

"Some paleontologists think it wasn't all that much of a hunter, rather a specialized scavenger." Oh no, here we go again...

[Thomas-yuhw]

Agree with both the predator and scavenger theory. This behavior is often seen in the wild today. Lions and hyenas fill both roles.

[x-shift]

It never ceases to amaze me whenever I encounter numbers like the reign of a predatory dinosaur 150 million years ago. When you contemplate that figure, it's mind-boggling to consider that the T-Rex, which ruled around 70 million years ago, is far closer to our era than to its own kind.

[joshuaW]

Even if it is an Allosaurus, Saurophaganax is still an awesome name.

[weswarden]

How stupid are people? Jus bc its big and probably slow doesnt mean it has to be a scavenger... not every predator runs down their prey, actually most predators are ambush hunters which is probably what this dino did. I dont buy that it was a scavenger jus bc of its size... same with T. Rex, theres no doubt in my mind that they werent ambush hunters, im sure they scavenged from time to time when they had the opportunity but they probably also hunted.

[Skedawg]

The Saurophaganax couldn’t have been a pure scavenger; it is too large.

[pequenotamandua]

Funny how Allosaurus went from having a pretty weak bite to quite strong one

[jihunshin]

Wasn't Saurophaganax the largest Jurassic carnivore in the Morris Formation only? Because the biggest Jurassic carnivore to have ever existed would be Torvosaurus gurneyi from the Lourinha Formation, which was slightly more massive than Morrison's Lord of the Lizard Eater. Saurophaganax was longer for sure, but as we know by now, size is determined by mass and not by length, and Lourinha's Torvosaurus was heavier than Morrison's Saurophaganax.

[sumirsookdeo]

Awesome therapod. I hope he is represented well in a future Hollywood film. It was these guys that would give rise to the carcharodontosaurids in the early cretaceous.

[nono]

You'd think the concept of an Allosaurus but bigger would be popular but I don't hear it talked about at all funnily enough

[MrLynamYT]

Key phrase to the T-Rex Stans “Largest *Jurassic* Carnivore”

[rileyernst]

I don't like the idea of it being a scavenger. Firstly it can't fly, so it's not a vulture and secondly there is no terrestrial large bodied scavengers as that just can't work. Yeah sure no-one else in the morrison is going to argue much when a big saurophaginax decides to take their kill, but lions tigers and bears do literally the same thing today and they are not considered 'mainly scavengers'.

[adarliah]

2:24 That's a chonky spinosaurus!

[kwnstudio]

Welp Lions and tigers pretty much look identical anatomically but are still a different species. Hell if they were long extinct we may have trouble recognizing them as as a separate species off the jump.🤔

[EmpireOfLuciferSatanson]

No Dinosaur King reference? Not an OG Saurophaganax appreciator.

[nono]

Thank you btw for sourcing the art. Makes it so much easier to look the artists up :)

[RedSinter]

On the Speed issue my understanding that T-Rex was. Labeled for years as slow. Only now deep investigations and facts from them says that's false and T-Rex was exceedingly fast.

[timcross]

All of the dinosaur types existed and lived as independent actors and filled different niches as they morphed through their body changes. Sheeesh

[lukash]

6:35 or the massive A. fragilis theory is right after all and the species just rarely reached such excessive sizes.

[coomsday]

I love the fact that due to the sheer size of Saurophaganax, it has been hypothesized before that it was an early carcharodontosaurid, rather than an allosaurid. And honestly I wouldn't be surprised nor would I be disapointed if it actually turned out to be one.