Question 1

How do you say Carnotaurus?

Accepted Answer

Carnotaurus is pronounced kar-noh-TOR-us, with the stress falling on the third syllable, TOR. Break it down like this: KAR as in car, NOH like the word no, and TOR-us like the word torus. Say it all together fast and you get kar-noh-TOR-us. The Natural History Museum in London uses this same pronunciation, so you can feel confident saying it that way.

Question 2

What does Carnotaurus mean?

Accepted Answer

Carnotaurus means flesh-eating bull in Latin. The first part, caro or carnis, means meat or flesh, and the second part, taurus, means bull. Paleontologist Jose Bonaparte chose this name because Carnotaurus was a predator and because it had two thick horns above its eyes just like a bull. The name is one of the most perfectly matched names in dinosaur paleontology because the animal really does look like a bull built for hunting.

Question 3

How big was Carnotaurus?

Accepted Answer

Carnotaurus was about 26 feet long, which is roughly the length of a school bus, and weighed around 2,000 pounds, similar to a large dairy cow. It stood about 9 to 10 feet tall at the hips. While it was not as massive as T. rex, it was still one of the largest predators in its ecosystem in Late Cretaceous South America. Its long legs made it look sleeker and more athletic than many large theropods of similar weight.

Question 4

Was Carnotaurus faster than T. rex?

Accepted Answer

Almost certainly yes. Scientists who have studied the leg bones and tail muscles of Carnotaurus estimate it could sprint somewhere between 35 and 56 km/h, which is significantly faster than most estimates for T. rex. Carnotaurus had a very large caudofemoralis muscle, the powerful tail muscle that drives the hind legs in theropods, suggesting it was built for speed. T. rex was more of a power hunter, while Carnotaurus appears to have been a pursuit predator that could chase down prey over a distance.

Question 5

What did Carnotaurus eat?

Accepted Answer

Carnotaurus was a carnivore that most likely hunted medium to large dinosaurs living alongside it in Late Cretaceous Patagonia. Its ecosystem included titanosaur sauropods like Epachthosaurus, and Carnotaurus may have targeted younger or smaller individuals of these species. Its short, deep snout and wide-opening jaws suggest a fast snapping bite style rather than bone-crushing. Some researchers think it may have also scavenged when the opportunity arose, as most large predators do.

Question 6

Why did Carnotaurus have horns?

Accepted Answer

Scientists believe the horns of Carnotaurus were most likely used for combat with other Carnotaurus rather than for hunting. The horns were thick and blunt, more like the horns of a bison than a sharp spike, which makes them poorly suited as weapons against prey but well suited for head-to-head shoving matches. This kind of intraspecies combat over territory or mates is very common in modern horned animals. Carnotaurus is the only large theropod ever discovered with true bony horns, making it uniquely bizarre even among meat-eating dinosaurs.

Question 7

Where was Carnotaurus found?

Accepted Answer

The only known Carnotaurus skeleton was found in Chubut Province in Patagonia, in southern Argentina. It was discovered in 1984 by Argentine paleontologist Jose Bonaparte in rocks belonging to the La Colonia Formation. Patagonia has turned out to be one of the richest dinosaur fossil regions in the world, and many important theropods and sauropods have been discovered there. The fossil is now housed and studied in Argentina.

Question 8

Did Carnotaurus have feathers?

Accepted Answer

Based on the fossil evidence we have, probably not, at least not over most of its body. The Carnotaurus skeleton preserved actual skin impressions, which showed a covering of small pebbly scales with larger rounded bumps along the sides. No feather impressions were found anywhere on the skin. Given its large size and the warm climate of Late Cretaceous South America, most scientists think full feather covering was unlikely, though some sparse feathers in certain areas cannot be completely ruled out.

Question 9

Is Carnotaurus in any movies or games?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Carnotaurus appears as a major villain in Disney's animated film Dinosaur from 2000. In the film it is depicted as enormous, far larger than the real animal, and at one point appears to use color-changing camouflage like a chameleon, which has no scientific basis at all. Carnotaurus also appears in the Jurassic World franchise and in numerous video games including ARK: Survival Evolved and various Jurassic World games. The real Carnotaurus was impressive enough without the Hollywood upgrades.

Question 10

How many Carnotaurus fossils have been found?

Accepted Answer

Only one skeleton of Carnotaurus has ever been found. It was discovered by Jose Bonaparte in 1984 in Patagonia, Argentina. Despite being a single specimen, it is one of the most complete and informative theropod skeletons ever found in the Southern Hemisphere. The preservation was exceptional enough to include skin impressions, which is extremely rare. Scientists have been studying this single skeleton for decades and continue to extract new information from it.

Question 11

How did Carnotaurus use its tiny arms?

Accepted Answer

Honestly, scientists are not entirely sure, and the most likely answer is that they barely used them at all. Carnotaurus had the most reduced arms of any large theropod, even shorter relative to body size than the arms of T. rex, with four tiny fingers. The muscles attached to those arms were very weak based on the bone structure. They probably could not even reach the mouth. They may have been evolutionary leftovers, structures that once served a purpose in ancestors but had not yet completely disappeared.

Question 12

When did Carnotaurus go extinct?

Accepted Answer

Carnotaurus lived from about 69 to 66 million years ago and went extinct along with all non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. The mass extinction event 66 million years ago, caused by a massive asteroid impact combined with volcanic activity, wiped out about 75 percent of all species on Earth. Carnotaurus was one of the last large predatory dinosaurs to ever walk the planet, surviving right up until that catastrophic end.

Question 13

What group of dinosaurs did Carnotaurus belong to?

Accepted Answer

Carnotaurus belonged to a group called the Abelisauridae, which were large theropod predators that dominated the southern supercontinent of Gondwana during the Late Cretaceous. Abelisaurids are known for their short, deep skulls and reduced arms, and Carnotaurus was one of the most extreme examples of both traits. Within Abelisauridae, Carnotaurus is placed in a subgroup called Brachyrostra, meaning short-snouted forms, all of which were found in South America. Abelisaurids were essentially the T. rex equivalents of the southern continents.

Carnotaurus Pronunciation

What does Carnotaurus mean?

Name Roots

Fun Facts

Learn More About Carnotaurus

Related Dinosaurs