Allosaurus
Allosaurus fragilis
Allosaurus was one of the dominant large predators of Late Jurassic Morrison ecosystems.
Image: The_Wookies · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Allosaurus fragilis
- Period
- Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian)
- Lived
- 155–145 Ma (155 million years ago)
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Habitat
- Plains, Forest
- Length (estimate)
- 9 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 1,500 kg
Description
Allosaurus was a large bipedal hunter with three-fingered forelimbs, a long tail and bony crests above its eyes. Its skull could open and was relatively light; its teeth were serrated and continually replaced. Many fossils at some quarries show that carcasses or animals accumulated at the same place, not necessarily that they hunted in packs. Bite marks on sauropods indicate interactions but do not prove a specific hunting strategy.
Habitat
River deltas, open woodlands and floodplains of western North America.
Fossil sites
Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry, Utah
Morrison Formation
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Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Allosaurus