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Allosaurus
"Different Lizard"
ANATOMY
Allosaurus
was a powerful predator that walked on two powerful legs, had a
strong,
s-shaped neck, and had vertebrae that were different from those of other
dinosaurs (hence its name, the "different lizard"). It had a massive
tail, a bulky body, and
heavy bones. Its arms were short and had three-fingered hands with
sharp claws that were
up to 6 inches (15 cm) long.
Allosaurus was up to 38 feet long (12 m) and 16.5 feet tall (5 m).
It weighed about 1400 kg.
It had a 3 feet long (90 cm) skull with two short brow-horns and
bony knobs and ridges
above its eyes and on the top of the head. It had large, powerful
jaws with long, sharp,
serrated teeth 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) long. The different species
of Allosaurus varied in
weight. Allosaurus fragilis, A. atrox, and A. ferox weighed about
1.1 to 1.9 tons (1 tonne to 1.7 tonnes); A. amplexus
was much heavier and weighed about 2.7 to 5.5 tons (3 tonnes to
5 tonnes). An Apatosaurus vertebrae was found with
Allosaurus tooth marks etched into it, evidence of an ancient Allosaurus
attack.
Allosaurus was a very common, and was the biggest meat-eater in North
America during the late Jurassic period. It may
have faced competition from the meat-eating Ceratosaurus.
