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Alioramus

By , About.com Guide

Alioramus (Wikimedia Commons)

Name:

Alioramus (Greek for "different branch"); pronounced AH-lee-oh-RAY-muss

Habitat:

Woodlands of Asia

Historical Period:

Late Cretaceous (70-65 million years ago)

Size and Weight:

About 20 feet long; weight unknown

Diet:

Herbivorous dinosaurs

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Numerous teeth; bony crests on snout

About Alioramus:

An awful lot has been abstracted about Alioramus from a single, incomplete skull found in Mongolia in 1976. Paleontologists believe it was a medium-sized tyrannosaur closely related to another Asian predator, Tarbosaurus, from which it differed in its size and in the distinctive crests running along its snout.

As with many dinosaurs reconstructed from partial fossils, though, not everyone accepts Alioramus as a genuine tyrannosaur. It's possible that it was a juvenile Tarbosaurus, or, perhaps, not a tyrannosaur at all but a different kind of carnivorous dinosaur (hence its name, which means "different branch").

A recent discovery shows that Alioramus was more bizarre than previously thought. It turns out that this tyrannosaur sported eight horns on its skull, each about five inches long, the purpose of which is still a mystery (though they were likely a sexually selected characteristic).

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