Tarbosaurus
“The Fearsome Lizard”
Today, scientists disagree about whether Tarbosaurus is a separate genus or whether it should be classified as Tyrannosaurus. A close examination of the fossils shows that it is very closely related Tyrannosaurus rex was so closely related that it could actually be a subspecies of T. rex. The name Tyrannosaurus bataar has been suggested, and in fact some textbooks have begun using that name and dropping Tarbosaurus.
| Profile | Tarbosaurus |
|---|---|
| epoch | late Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) |
| Order | Lizard-pelvis dinosaur (Saurischia) |
| Subordination | Theropoda |
| Family | Tyrannosauroidea |
| group | Tyrannosauridae |
| genus | Tarbosaurus |
| Art | Tarbosaurus batar |
| Height | 3 meters |
| length | 10 – 12 meters |
| Weight | 4 – 5 tons |
| Locations | Mongolia |
The total brain volume of a 12 meter tall Tarbosaurus is estimated to be only 184 cubic centimeters. For comparison, humans have a brain volume of 1,446 cubic centimeters.
Image sources: “Tarbosaurus_and_Saurolophus_by_durbed”: Licensed under “ the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license". Author: Durbed
Image sources: “Tarbosaurus_and_Saurolophus_by_durbed”: Licensed under “the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license”. Author: Durbed
Skull: Jordi Payà from Barcelona, Catalonia, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Skeleton: Jordi Payà from Barcelona, Catalonia, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons