Tarbosaurus bataar (tar-bo-sore-us)

Quick Facts

Name means alarming lizard

Tarbosaurus was a carnivore

Tarbosaurus was 8 metres

The fossils of Tarbosaurus were discovered in Mongolia

Lived 70–65 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous

This evolutionary timeline shows the relationships between animal groups. Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs lived during the Mesozoic.

Animal Group

Tarbosaurus was a Theropod Dinosaur. They moved on two legs, most species were carnivorous with sharp teeth, some very fast runners. Include feathered dinosaurs and the ancestors of birds.

Other Theropods in Dinosaur Walk

Description

Tarbosaurus was a large carnivorous theropod dinosaur from Mongolia. Like its close North American relative, Tyrannosaurus rex, it had a very large head and powerful jaws, but was not top heavy as its huge skull was comparatively thin and light, with large air pockets. Many of its bones were hollow, making them strong but light, so they did not add excessive weight to this large predator.

Like all tyrannosaurs, Tarbosaurus had very short arms — so short that they could not even reach its own mouth. This puzzled palaeontologists, but it is now thought that the expression ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’ may explain this. Many other theropods took prey of differing sizes, so they still needed arms to grasp and manipulate their lunch. The tyrannosaurs concentrated on the big stuff! They could overcome their prey with their enormous jaws, teeth and neck muscles. Imagine a giant cookie-cutter mounted on a battering ram. This method of attack could take out a cubic metre of flesh from its prey, allowing Tarbosaurus to sit back and wait until its prey died from blood loss.

Although tyrannosaurs were accomplished hunters, life was still tough for them. Many skeletons have been found with evidence of the broken bones that have healed during the life of the animal.

The specimen exhibited at Melbourne Museum is a cast from a fossil skeleton of a teenage Tarbosaurus — the animal was not fully grown when it died.

P 206970 Tarbosaurus bataar on display in Dinosaur Walk view in MUSEUMS VICTORIA COLLECTIONS Tarbosaurus bataar on display in Dinosaur Walk

What made Tarbosaurus a successful killer?

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