Name:
Afrovenator (Greek for "African hunter"); pronounced AFF-ro-ven-ATE-or
Habitat:
Plains of northern Africa
Historical Period:
Early Cretaceous (135-125 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 30 feet long; weight unknown
Diet:
Meat
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Numerous teeth; three claws on each hand
About Afrovenator:
Afrovenator is significant for two reasons: first, it's one of the few nearly complete theropod skeletons to be unearthed in northern Africa, and second, it appears to have been closely related to the North American Megalosaurus--yet more evidence for the distribution of continents in the early Cretaceous period.
This bipedal carnivore has also become something of a calling card for the noted paleontologist Paul Sereno, who discovered it in the early 1990's and carted its bones back to his home base at the University of Chicago, where it's currently stored.
