Sauron Named Big as T.Rex

We do keep adding to our inventory of known dinosaurs. Considering the real speciation existing today among birds and the time duration of dinosaur dominance, I suspect that we have only begun.

This is another T.Rex like meat eating land shark that everyone loves to be extinct. Of course, we may still have an example or two hiding out in remnants of the Sahul.

We know little of their life way so cannot comment well on likely populations. They seem to get caught in flash floods rather often. There may have been very specific reasons for that behavior such as stalking a water hole.

We had the same problem with Giant sloths who get caught in tar pits far too easily. Turns out that they scavenge maggots from trapped corpses and got caught of course. Still pretty selective.

New "Sauron" Dinosaur Found, Big as T. Rex

Forty-foot predator stalked North Africa about 95 million years ago.

James Owen

for National Geographic News

Published November 6, 2012

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/11/121106-sauron-new-dinosaur-lord-of-the-rings-science-t-rex/

Named after the demonic Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings films, a new species of flesh-ripping dinosaur terrorized North Africa some 95 million years ago, a new study says.

The species—Sauroniops pachytholus, or "eye of Sauron" in Greek—was identified from a single fossil unearthed in southeastern Morocco in 2007.

That fossil included only part the upper skull—including the eye socket, study leader Andrea Cau, of the Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini in Bologna, Italy, said by email.

"The idea of a predator that is physically known only as its fierce eye reminded me of Sauron, in particular as depicted in Peter Jackson's movies," Cau explained. (See a picture of an alien planet that resembles the Eye of Sauron.)

A Match for T. Rex

As a carcharodontosaur—a type of huge theropod, or two-legged meat-eater—Sauroniops likely had "a long and deep skull bearing dozens of bladelike teeth," he said. (See pictures of bizarre dinosaurs in National Geographicmagazine.)

Comparisons of the skull fossil with those of related species suggest the creature measured up to 40 feet (12 meters) in length.

"The skull bone of Sauroniops is very broad and particularly thick: This suggests an animal as big as Tyrannosaurus [rex]," Cau said. But without more fossils, "a more precise estimation of its size is currently impossible," the paleontologist added. (See "Meat-Eating Dinosaur Was Bigger Than T. Rex.")

The fossil also revealed that the dinosaur had a distinctive bump on its forehead, which sets Sauroniops apart from other carcharodontosaurs, according to the study, published recently in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

This lumpy growth may have been used for head-butting clashes during male mating displays, the team speculates.

Sauron Dinosaur Was a Giant Among Giants

As the fourth carcharodontosaur known from Africa, Sauroniops shared its Moroccan stomping ground with the equally ferocious Carcharodontosaurus saharicus. (Related: "Massive New Meat-Eating Dino Had 'Steak Knife' Teeth.")

Though these top predators may have given each other the evil eye, it's quite possible they targeted different prey and weren't direct competitors, Cau said.

"Sauroniops lived along the banks of a large delta, under a hot and warm climate, very rich of fishes and crocodiles," he added. "The abundance of food may explain the abundance of predatory dinosaurs."