Fun Tarbosaurus Facts For Kids

Tarbosaurus bataar (Alarming Lizard) was a large carnivorous dinosaur that roamed the Earth in the Late Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago. The ferocious beast belonged to the genus Tarbosaurus and the family Tyrannosauridae.

Paleontologists have discovered numerous fossils of the dinosaur in parts of Asia namely Mongolia and China. It had made a home for itself in the floodplains of Nemegt formation and was the apex predator of the region.

It preyed on larger dinosaurs using its fast speed and strong jaws.

The animal was quite strange-looking because although it had a rather large body, its arms were disproportionately small. The Tarbosaurus size was rather huge and reached up to 33-40 ft (10-12 m) in length and 13 ft (4 m) in height.

Some paleontologists believe that this animal is an Asian variant of the Tyrannosaurus or T-rex from North America. And although proof of the same has yet to be found, the beasts are often compared with one another.

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Tarbosaurus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Tarbosaurus'?

The best way to pronounce Tarbosaurus is by breaking this word phonetically into 'TAR-bə-SAWR-əs' (meaning Alarming Lizard).

What type of dinosaur was a Tarbosaurus?

Tarbosaurus was a large bipedal predator and theropod, like most known tyrannosaurids.

In which geological period did the Tarbosaurus roam the earth?

The fossils of Tarbosaurus bataar were first discovered in 1946 and then later described and named by Maleev in 1955. It lived 68-72 million years ago near the tail end of the Late Cretaceous Period.

When did the Tarbosaurus become extinct?

The Tarbosaurus roamed the earth only for a short spell of time some 68-72 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous period. It is believed that tyrannosaurids like the Mongolian Tarbosaurus and North American Tyrannosaurus rex were the last dinosaur species to exist.

Where did a Tarbosaurus live?

In the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia's Omnögovi Province, a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition discovered a large theropod head in 1946. In 1955, Soviet paleontologist Evgeny Maleev designated this specimen as the holotype of a new species he named Tyrannosaurus bataar.

Most of its specimens recovered have been found from Southern Mongolia and a few fragments of the same have been unearthed from China. No specimens of the animal have been found outside of Asia.

What was a Tarbosaurus' habitat?

The T. bataar habitat is the Nemegt Formation as was discovered in the joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition. The Nemegt Formation of the Late Cretaceous was made up of river channel sediments found in Mongolia's Gobi Desert.

Who did a Tarbosaurus live with?

Belonging to the Tyrannosaur family, the Tarbosaurus was the apex predator in its habitat, living alongside and even hunting dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Mononykus. Large dinosaurs like Saurolophus would also fall prey to the Tarbosaurus. However, whether it hunted in packs or not is still up for debate.

How long did a Tarbosaurus live?

The specific details of the Tarbosaurus' lifespan are still unclear. However, a dinosaur's diet played a key part in its longevity. Carnivorous dinosaurs lived for a shorter time, while herbivorous dinosaurs enjoyed a longer lifespan.

How did they reproduce?

Males would have placed sperm inside females, who would then lay fertilized eggs carrying developing dinosaur embryos. Although no Tarbosaurus bataar or Tyrannosaurus rex eggs or nests have ever been discovered, the remains found of other Tyrannosaur relatives imply that the beasts deposited eggs in batches of 20 or more.

Tarbosaurus Fun Facts

What did a Tarbosaurus look like?

Tarbosaurus was one of the largest tyrannosaurids, although it was slightly smaller than the Tyrannosaurus. The skull of Tarbosaurus was tall and rigid, like Tyrannosaurus', but not as wide, particularly in the back.

An S-shaped neck supported the head, while the rest of the vertebral column was held horizontally, including the long tail. Tarbosaurus possessed the tiniest forelimbs or arms of all the dinosaurs. Each hand had two clawed digits, with some specimens having an additional unclawed third metacarpal.

The three-toed hindlimbs, in contrast to the forelimbs, were long and thick, supporting the body in a bipedal position. The long, hefty tail counterbalanced the head and body, shifting the center of gravity to the hips.

How many bones did a Tarbosaurus have?

It is not known how many bones the Tarbosaurus had. But the dozens of Tarbosaurus fossils, which include numerous complete skulls provide a rough idea about the creature's bone structure.

Scientific research on its skull mechanics and brain structure has only been possible thanks to these remnants. 18 Tarbosaurus foot bones and 10 Tarbosaurus hand bones have been analyzed thus far. Although the animal was nothing less than a giant, its skeleton was surprisingly lightweight.

How did they communicate?

The actual mechanism by which Tarbosaurus used to communicate is unknown. The Tarbosaurus, like most dinosaurs, most likely communicated audibly and visually.

How big was a Tarbosaurus?

The Alarming Lizard or Tarbosaurus size was rather huge and reached up to 33-40 ft (10-12 m) in length and 13 ft(4 m) in height. The dinosaur was quite similar in size to the theropod Tyrannosaurus rex.

Both Tarbosaurus and T.Rex are bigger than the Stokesosaurus, another Theropoda of the Jurassic period that reaches up to a length of 10- 13 ft (3-4 m).

How fast could a Tarbosaurus move?

Despite being as heavy and huge as an elephant, this species would have been able to reach a relatively fast speed. Tarbosaurus could potentially reach speeds of around 25 mph (40.2 kph). The dinosaur was also extremely powerful. These features are exactly what made the Tarbosaurus adept at hunting and overpowering larger prey.

How much did a Tarbosaurus weigh?

This Mongolian Theropoda was rather huge. The average weight of the dinosaur was 4.4-5.5 ton (4000-5000 kg) but the larger animals of the species weighed around 7.1 ton (6500 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

No sex-specific name has been allocated to the genus of this dinosaur.

What would you call a baby Tarbosaurus?

Juvenile Tarbosaurus dinosaurs are called hatchlings.

What did they eat?

Tarbosaurus maintained a carnivorous diet. Not only was the beast one of the largest known predators in what is presently Mongolia, but it was also a scavenger, as evidenced by its fossilized bite marks on Saurolophus remains. Tarbosaurus predominantly hunted large dinosaurs, particularly Titanosaurs and Hadrosaurs.

How aggressive were they?

The dinosaur was extremely large and ferocious. This carnivorous creature typically preyed on much larger dinosaurs. However, the Therizinosaurus of Asia posed a threat to Tarbosaurus. In a Therizinosaurus vs Tarbosaurus showdown, the latter might find itself fleeing.

Did you know...

There have been speculations that the Asian Tarbosaurus had crossed over to North America some time in history. It was theorized that the former had used the Siberian land bridge present between Asia and North America to make this journey. It was here that the Tarbosaurus had evolved into the T-rex. This theory has no proof till today.

How many teeth did the Tarbosaurus have?

The giant predator had 60 sharp, large, oval-shaped teeth lining its jaws. The number of teeth present was slightly more in comparison to the Tyrannosaurus but fewer in contrast to smaller tyrannosaurids like the Alioramus.

The Tarbosaurus skull was rigid and stiff which persisted to the lower jaw, where a bony ridge stretched down to the dentary, forming a 'locking mechanism.' The lower jaws became stiffer, as a result, making them better equipped to grip onto powerful prey. The dinosaur Alioramus also possessed the same unique jaw structure.

Tarbosaurus vs. T-rex

T-rex and Tarbosaurus are often misinterpreted to be the one and the same. But in actuality, both the dinosaurs have numerous anatomical differences which becomes evident if we do a T-rex vs Tarbosaurus analysis.

The difference that is the most vivid between the two species is the skulls of the Tyrannosaurs. The skull of a rex is much more solidly formed and flares out at the back, whereas the Mongolian bataar's skull is narrower and lacks the same degree of extension at the back.

Another difference is the shape of the lacrimal bone, which was also part of the dinosaur's skull ornamentation.

The top piece of the lacrimal bone in rex is concave, but the same portion of the bone in the bataar is domed. The rex also has longer arms, according to P. Currie.

Both the rex and bataar are very similar in appearance but they definitely belong to two separate species and genus. Some paleontologists have opined that the bataar is a close Asian relative of the North American rex.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Albertonykus fun facts and Gualicho facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable dinosaur Halloween coloring pages.