Dinosaurs & Prehistory - Dinosaurs - Giganotosaurus - Carcharodontosaurids - Theropods - Cretaceous
Which statement about Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex is correct?
Correct!
Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex are often compared because both were among the largest known meat-eating dinosaurs. However, they did not live at the same time and were never able to meet each other. Giganotosaurus lived in South America in the early Late Cretaceous period, approximately 99 to 97 million years ago. Tyrannosaurus rex, on the other hand, lived in North America much later, around 68 to 66 million years ago. There were around 30 million years between the two - more time than the time that passed between the extinction of Tyrannosaurus rex and the appearance of many modern animal groups. The animals were also geographically separated. Giganotosaurus comes from what is now Argentina, while Tyrannosaurus rex is known from western North America. The comparison between the two is therefore primarily a comparison of size and relationship, not an indication of a direct encounter or competition. Giganotosaurus belonged to the carcharodontosaurids, a group of large allosauroid theropods. Tyrannosaurus rex, on the other hand, belonged to the tyrannosaurids. Both were giant predatory dinosaurs, but they were on different evolutionary lines and in significantly different time frames.
Giganotosaurus lived about 30 million years before Tyrannosaurus rex; the two large theropods therefore did not meet each other.
