There are only a few dinosaurs that used to live in what is now Northern African plains. The Afrovenator was one of those. In this article titled, 15 interesting Afrovenator facts, we are going to learn about this specific dinosaur and know about its food habits, its physical structure and also about its uniqueness in fossil digs. So, let us start without wasting further time.
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At a Glance
Name: Afrovenator
Lived: 135-125 million years ago
Status: Extinct
Diet: Meat
Locomotion: Bipedal
Size: 30 feet
Weight: Unknown or about a ton
Special Characteristics: Numerous teeth
Discovered in: 1990s by Paul Sereno – a Paleontologist
Place of Discovery: Niger – an African country
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Interesting Afrovenator Facts: 1-15
1. The term Afrovenator is pronounced as AFF-ro-ven-ay-tore.
2. This term is a Greek word which means the African Hunter.
3. As the name suggests, the Afrovenator was actually carnivore.
4. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of this dinosaur was that it had numerous teeth.
5. The dinosaur also had two short forearms which had three claws each.
6. Afrovenator grew up to a length of 30 feet however, the approximate weight of the dinosaur has not yet been determined. However, as per Wikipedia, the weight of the dinosaur was approximately 1 ton.
7. The hind legs of the dinosaur were long and strong and the dinosaur had a bipedal stance.
8. The length of the dinosaur is measured from its snout to its tail tip.
9. This dinosaur lived during the Early Cretaceous period which was some 135 to 125 million years ago from now.
10. The area where it lived is today known as the Northern African plains.
11. One of the most interesting Afrovenator facts is that this dinosaur represents one of the very few almost complete meat-eating dinosaur (known as theropod) fossil to be dug up that lived in northern Africa.
12. Apart from that, the Afrovenator seems to be a close relative of Megalosaurus that lived in what is now Western Europe. Because of this relationship, experts get a fair idea of how continents were distributed during the Early Cretaceous period.
13. Paleontologists have not yet been able to understand the exact place of this dinosaur on the family tree of theropod.
14. There is actually a controversy. Different paleontologists try to link the Afrovenator with a diverse group of theropods like Spinosaurs, Allosaurus, Eustretospondylus and Dubreuillosaurus.
15. The primary reason for this terrible confusion is that fact that till date only one fossil of Afrovenator has been unearthed. Unless other fossils are discovered, this confusion will continue.