Name:
Australovenator (Greek for "Australian hunter"); pronounced AW-strah-low-VEN-ah-tore
Habitat:
Woodlands of Australia
Historical Period:
Middle Cretaceous (100 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 20 feet long and a few hundred pounds
Diet:
Meat
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Long legs, arms and tail; sleek build
About Australovenator:
Australovenator is the third of a trio of Australian dinosaurs announced in 2009, the other two being huge, herbivorous titanosaurs. This dinosaur has been classified as an allosaur, a distinctive type of large theropod, and it seems to have been a lightly built, sleek predator (the paleontologist who named it has likened it to a modern cheetah). Australovenator was unlikely to have hunted the 10-ton titanosaurs it was discovered near, but it probably made a good living off the smaller plant-eaters of middle Cretaceous Australia. (By the way, recent analysis has shown that Australovenator was a close relative of the impressively named Megaraptor, a large theropod from South America.)
