Tarbosaurus courtesy of Dmitry Bogdanov, via Wikimedia Commons
The Alarming Lizard
Tarbosaurus bataar, whose name means “Alarming Lizard,” was a tyrannosaur first discovered in 1946 and named by Evgeny Maleev in 1955. Tarbosaurus lived in the Cretaceous, around 70 million years ago. Tarbosaurus fossils have been found in Mongolia and China. Here are five quick facts about Tarbosaurus bataar:
- Tarbosaurus Fact #1: Tarbosaurus had the smallest forearms of all tyrannosaurs. Tarbosaurus weighed up to 5 tons and was 33-39 feet long, so it’s small arms may have helped it maintain balance.
- Tarbosaurus Fact #2: Tarbosaurus is older than T-rex, which suggests that tyrannosaurs originated in Asia and migrated to North America via a land bridge that connected the two continents.
- Tarbosaurus Fact #3: Tarbosaurus was the apex predator of its habitat, and it may have hunted and/or scavenged. Dr. Philip Currie has hypothesized that Tarbosaurus may have hunted in packs. Six Tarbosaurus skeletons were found in a bonebed in Mongolia, which may mean they lived together.
- Tarbosaurus Fact #4: Tarbosaurus‘ name “bataar” is a mispelling of the Mongolian word “baatar,” which means “hero.”
- Tarbosaurus Fact #5: Tarbosaurus is very closely related to T-rex, but there are some key differences. Tarbosaurus had a longer skull and had about 60 teeth (which is more teeth than T-rex. And though Tarbosaurus was big, it had a lightweight skeleton. Still, Tarbosaurus is the second biggest tyrannosaur, after T-rex.
Resources:
- I KNOW DINO PODCAST: TARBOSAURUS (EPISODE 4)
- “Tarbosaurus bataar” on Australian Museum
- “Tarbosaurus vs. Tyrannosaurus: What’s the Difference?” on LiveScience
- “Tarbosaurus” on BBC
- “Tarbosaurus Bataar” on Dinosaur World
- “Tarbosaurus” on Wikipedia
- “Tarbosaurus Gangs: What Do We Know?” on Smithsonian
- “The ‘dino gangs’ add an important dimension to a vanished world” on The Times
Learn more about Tarbosaurus in episode 4 of our podcast.