Saurophaganax facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Saurophaganax Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
Saurophaganax vs Apatosaurus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Superfamily:	Allosauroidea
Family:	Allosauridae
Genus:	Saurophaganax Chure, 1995

Saurophaganax was a huge dinosaur that lived about 151 million years ago. Its name means "lizard-eating master," which tells you it was a powerful predator. This giant allosaurid dinosaur was found in Oklahoma, in a rock layer called the Morrison Formation.

Saurophaganax was one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs of its time. Scientists think it could grow up to 13 meters (about 43 feet) long. That's longer than a school bus! It might have weighed around 3 tons, which is as heavy as a large truck. This makes it similar in size to famous dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus or Carcharodontosaurus.

Some scientists believe Saurophaganax was a unique type of dinosaur. Others think it might have been a very large species of Allosaurus, called Allosaurus maximus. For now, most experts agree it's its own special genus. New fossil discoveries could help solve this mystery in the future.

Images for kids

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  A drawer of Saurophaganax vertebrae, Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

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  Mounted skeleton posed attacking a Diplodocus, New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.

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  Mounted Saurophaganax hunting an Apatosaurus, Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

See also

In Spanish: Saurophaganax maximus para niños