Dino card No. 1753 of 2,027

Tarbosaurus

Say it: TAR-buh-SOR-us

Name means: “alarming lizard”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursLate Cretaceous

Tarbosaurus was a huge, meat-eating dinosaur that lived in Asia. It was like a cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, with a big head and tiny arms. It was one of the top predators of its time.1

Lived

90 to 66 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Mongolia, China, and Russia5 1

Food

Meat1

Length

10 to 12 m1 2

about

Weight

4.5 tonnes to 5 tonnes1

Height

3 to 5 m1 2

at the hips

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the hips

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 3 cars

as long as 2.5 cars parked in a rowas long as 67 bananas end to endabout as heavy as an elephantas heavy as 1000 watermelonsas tall as 2.5 doors stacked up

How big was Tarbosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Tarbosaurus had the smallest arms compared to its body size of all tyrannosaurids, with tiny two-fingered hands.1

It had a special locking mechanism in its jaw and about sixty large teeth.1

Tarbosaurus lived in a humid floodplain with rivers, forests, and plains, and it was the top predator there.1

Scientists think Tarbosaurus might be the same as Tyrannosaurus, but most now call it Tarbosaurus bataar.1

Some fossils from China were once thought to be a small dinosaur called Shanshanosaurus, but they are probably baby Tarbosaurus.1

Tarbosaurus is known from dozens of fossil specimens, including complete skulls and skeletons.1

AI-made picture of Tarbosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Tarbosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Tarbosaurus

?How big was Tarbosaurus?

About 10 metres long, 3 metres tall at the hips, and weighed 4.5 to 5 tonnes. Some adults may have been over 12 metres long.1

?Was Tarbosaurus bigger than T. rex?

No, Tarbosaurus was slightly smaller than Tyrannosaurus rex. T. rex was heavier and had a wider skull.1

?What did Tarbosaurus eat?

It was a meat-eater that hunted large dinosaurs like the hadrosaur Saurolophus and the sauropod Nemegtosaurus, and probably also ate carrion.1 3

?Did Tarbosaurus have feathers?

The sources do not mention feathers on Tarbosaurus. Like other large tyrannosaurs, it probably had scaly skin, but some related dinosaurs had feathers, so it is possible.1

?Where did Tarbosaurus live?

It lived in Asia, mainly in what is now Mongolia and China, in a humid floodplain with rivers, forests, and deserts.1 3

?When did Tarbosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 74 to 70 million years ago.4

?Why did Tarbosaurus have tiny arms?

Scientists are not sure, but the small arms may have helped it balance its huge head. They were the smallest arms of any large tyrannosaur relative to body size.1 3

?Is Tarbosaurus the same as T. rex?

Some scientists think Tarbosaurus might be an Asian species of Tyrannosaurus, but most now call it a separate genus, Tarbosaurus bataar. They are very close cousins.1

Ask Rex about Tarbosaurus

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Myth buster

Myth: Tarbosaurus is just a copy of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Truth: Tarbosaurus is a close relative, but it lived in Asia and had its own special features, like a different jaw lock and even smaller arms.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Tarbosaurus
Named by: Maleev 19555
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauridae5
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea > Tyrannosauridae5
Age of the rocks: 90 to 66 million years (Coniacian / Maastrichtian)5
Rock formations: Nemegt, Udurchukan, Yuliangzi5
Countries: Mongolia, China, Russia5
Fossil records: 56 in the Paleobiology Database5
Also known as: Jenghizkhan, Maleevosaurus, Shanshanosaurus (older names now counted as the same animal)5
Discovery: Soviet paleontologist Evgeny Maleev named Tarbosaurus in 1955, based on fossils found in Mongolia in 1948 and 1949.5 2
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Tarbosaurus is its own genus or actually a species of Tyrannosaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Tarbosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
New Carnivorous Dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia (naturalhistory.si.edu)
Dinosaurs - Tarbosaurus bataar - The Australian Museum (australian.museum)
Tarbosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Tarbosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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