Scientists Found The Impossible In A Newly Discovered Carnotaurus Fossil

Carnotaurus is among the most famous dinosaurs – we all know that. But were Megalodon, Mosasaurus or Pteranodon dinosaurs too? If you can't answer that, check out how our merch can help: https://wildsparks-shop.fourthwall.com/en-usd Makes a great gift, too! ____________________________ In this video: Carnotaurus is known from exactly one fossil only — a single adult skeleton found in 1984 by paleontologist José Bonaparte in Argentina's La Colonia Formation. No egg, hatchling, or juvenile has ever turned up. This animal lived around 72 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, in Patagonia, at a time when South America was cut off from Gondwana and evolving in isolation, much like Australia did later. Carnotaurus belonged to a group called the Abelisaurids, a branch that split off early from the theropod family tree. That's why it had no feathers. Instead, a preserved skin impression shows small, non-overlapping scales with larger "feature scales" scattered across the body. Its arms were the smallest, relative to body size, of any large predatory dinosaur ever found. It also had four fingers, unlike most theropods, which had three. Scientists still don't agree on why. At over twenty-five feet long and close to two tons, this was a big animal, but its arms clearly weren't built for hunting. Its legs were. Disproportionately large and built for explosive acceleration, they could reportedly push Carnotaurus to nearly thirty-five miles per hour, making it one of the fastest large theropods known. That power came from an oversized caudofemoralis muscle in the tail, supported by interlocked tailbones that formed a rigid, spring-like structure. The tradeoff was flexibility. Carnotaurus likely couldn't turn sharply, which points to a life spent on open, flat terrain rather than dense forest. Its skull was short, tall, and blunt, with forward-facing eyes for binocular vision and a highly developed sense of smell. And then there are the horns above its eyes, a feature found in no other known carnivorous animal, living or extinct. Researchers are split on whether they were for display, mate attraction, or combat between individuals. Despite a modest bite force from a mostly fused, rigid skull, a flexible lower jaw joint let Carnotaurus widen its gape for large bites, backed by a heavily muscled neck for powerful head strikes. In 2024, a related abelisaurid called Koleken inakayali was described from that same La Colonia Formation, confirming the region was rich in similar animals, though Carnotaurus itself remains known from only that single skeleton. This video breaks down what one fossil can tell us, and what it still can't, about one of the strangest predators ever discovered.