Carcharodontosaurus saharicus

"shark-toothed lizard of the Sahara"

CRETACEOUS:  98 - 93 million years ago

Carcharodontosaurus saharicus is the largest meat-eating dinosaur known to have ever lived on the Earth (along with Giganotosaurus - now believed to be the same creature).  Before its discovery, Tyrannosaurus rex was thought to be the largest but this monster exceeds T. rex in size and really is the "king"!  Carcharodontosaurus had a massive tail, stout body mass, and heavy bones.  Its arms were short and its hands had three fingers with sharp claws.  Carcharodontosaurus grew up to 45 feet long, had a 6 foot skull and is estimated to have weighed eight tons. 

It had large, powerful jaws with long, serrated, sharp teeth up to 8 inches long.  Carcharodontosaurus was larger than T. rex but its brain was smaller.  Carcharodontosaurus is so closely related to Giganotosaurus (not to T. rex) that research now is leaning towards declaring the two creatures the same dinosaur genus.

Unscrupulous fossil dealers, in an effort to make a sale by "enhancing" the identity of their offers, will call their Carcharodontosaurus fossils as from the "African T. rex" but there is absolutely no relation between the two dinosaurs.  Carcharodontosaurus lived BEFORE T. rex and is not considered an ancestor or in the same lineage as Tyrannosaurus rex. 

Carcharodontosaurus remains have been found in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Niger.

Common misspellings:  Charcarodontosaurus, Carcardontosaurus, Carcarodontosaurus

The dinosaur specimens we offer are not limited to what is just shown here.  Please inquire as to any of your specific needs.