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Are you a dinosaur enthusiast? Do you like the thrill? Do you wonder which dinosaurs were the scariest on earth?
Then welcome to the Mesozo Blog, here we talk about dinosaurs and we love them.
In this blog article, you will discover our ranking of the 10 scariest dinosaurs! Some of them are very well known, others less well known, or even unknown to the general public.
Of course, this ranking is subjective, a lot of dinosaurs were scary, and it also depends on one's personal feelings, maybe you will find some even scarier dinosaurs, in that case, don't hesitate to share them with us in comments.
Do we still have to introduce the Tyrannosaurus Rex? The king of dinosaurs, the undisputed star among these giant reptiles.
The T-Rex is a real celebrity among the dinosaurs, present in many works of fiction, started in Jurassic Park where it plays one of the major roles. Probably the scariest dinosaur in the whole film, we all remember the scene with the goat that troubled the youngest among us ...
Objectively, the Tyrannosaurus Rex may not have been the scariest dinosaur of the dinosaur era, but it's probably the one that left the biggest impression on us.
For the record, this fearsome predator of the theropod family lived in the Cretaceous era 66 million years ago and not in the Jurassic era as the movies might make us think.
It could be up to 12.5m (41ft) long and 3.6m (11.8ft) tall, weighed up to 15 tons, and had between 50 and 60 teeth over 10cm (4in) high capable of tearing apart anything they came across.
As much as to say that it was really better not to be its prey...
You probably know it if you're interested in dinosaurs, you may have seen it in fictional works, especially in Jurassic Park 3 where it plays the role of the big bad guy, he even wipes out the T.Rex after a bloody fight.
So this is the Spinosaurus! The biggest predator the earth has ever known! It weighed up to 11 tons and could measure up to 20m (65ft) long and 7m (23ft) tall! So much so that we wouldn't have been brave with such an animal in front of us. The Spinosaurus lived in the Upper Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago, so it could not have crossed with T.Rex and so we will never know which of the two would have really won the fight.
The spinosaurus, although a member of the theropod family, was according to some scientists and paleontologists a semi-aquatic animal. It seems that it was able to move around in the water quite comfortably and that it fed on fish.
Some theories suggest that when it was on land it spent most of its time on all fours, somewhat like a crocodile. A rather unusual position for theropods.
The spinosaurus is easily recognizable by its long snout and a large crest on its back. According to the theories, this ridge could be used as a thermal regulator, a bridal apparatus, a tool of intimidation, or maybe even a combination of these three hypotheses.
Either way, it deserves its place in our ranking of the scariest dinosaurs.
Picture source: KookaburraSurvivor
This is the Giganotosaurus, its name already gives us a clue as to who it is.
And to say the least, it wasn't small. Measuring up to 50 feet long, the Giganotosaurus was bigger than its cousin the T. Rex.
Frightening just to think about it, isn't it? And it's not over! The Giganotosaurus had a long tail that probably served as a pendulum and had powerful hind legs, which probably allowed it to run up to 50km/h ( 30mph )! It's not easy to escape from a predator like that. It lived in South America at the end of the Cretaceous period, around 98 million years ago.
It seems to be the second-largest land carnivore in Earth's history, just after the Spinosaurus, which still holds first place.
The Carnotaurus was a super-predator that lived in the Upper Cretaceous, just like the Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, they probably never crossed, as the two species did not live in the same place.
The Carnotaurus was about 9m (29ft) long and 3.5m (11ft) high, it had a morphology similar to the tyrannosaurus except for the presence of 4 fingers on the forelimbs (instead of 2 fingers like the tyrannosaurus).
Its eyes close together and directed forward suggest that it had binocular vision allowing it to have a better appreciation of distances, which gave it a definite advantage as a hunter. It also possessed two horns that adorned the top of his skull, it is from this particularity that its name Carnotaurus (carnivorous bull) comes from.
A super predator with horns… Definitely a scary dinosaur!
Allosaurus is a slightly lesser-known species than its cousin the T. Rex. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most fearsome and frightening of the dinosaurs.
Unlike the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the allosaurus lived during the Upper Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. It was the largest and most dangerous predator of its time, measuring up to 12m (39ft) long and 4m (13ft) high.
It was the undisputed king of its time, it fed mainly on sauropods such as diplodocus or apatosaurus from which it hunted the weakest specimens such as those too young or too old to defend themselves, it could also feed on stegosaurus or other large herbivores of its time.
Although less imposing than the Tyrannosaurus we would not have liked to be in front of it.
Allosaurus is without a doubt a dinosaur as scary as it is dangerous.
We all know the famous velociraptor, this bipedal predator made famous thanks to the Jurassic Park saga.
In reality, the Velociraptor was much smaller and less impressive than its representation in movies and other works of fiction. But it has a terrifying cousin, the Utahraptor!
Utahraptor is a theropod dinosaur of the raptor family of which it was the largest representative and which lived in the Lower Cretaceous period, about 125 million years ago.
It was about 8m (26ft) long and 1.5m (5ft) high. So it was quite impressive. It had a relatively light structure for its size and could most likely move at a very high speed. Perhaps in the manner of some modern-day giant runner birds.
Many paleontologists believe that it was covered with feathers and probably lived and hunted in groups. That doesn't make us feel any better and gives it a place in our top scary dinosaur tops!
Ceratosaurus is another predator of the theropod family. We can see it in the movie Jurassic Park 3.
The Ceratosaurus has a very particular and unique physique. It resembles a tyrannosaurus except for the fact that it has a bony appendage on the upper jaw. It is the only known carnivorous dinosaur with such characteristics. This bony protuberance resembles a horn, although it is actually rounded and non-sharp.
Discoveries about its skin have shown that it was covered with fine scales, unlike some theropods that have been found to be covered with feathers. The ceratosaurus was much less dangerous than many of its theropod cousins. In fact, it probably hunted small prey that could not defend itself.
Nevertheless, it was still frightening thanks to its physique and that's how it earned its place in our ranking.
This is the Baryonyx, strange animal, isn't it? It would also have had its place in our ranking of the weirdest dinosaurs of the Mesozoic era.
The Baryonyx is a theropod in the Spinosauridae family, just like the Suchominus or the Spinosaurus. It would also have had its place in our ranking of the weirdest dinosaurs of the Mesozoic era.
The skull of Baryonyx is very long, flattened, and narrow. Its nostrils, instead of being at the end of the skull as in most theropods, are about 10 cm backward. Its teeth are wider and more finely serrated, made for stabbing rather than cutting. The teeth at the front of the jaws are larger and form a circular shape protruding from the bone.
Baryonyx's teeth easily pierced the soft flesh of fish, their arrangement allowed it to grip their slippery bodies. With its nostrils set far back, it could plunge its snout into the water while continuing to breathe.
Its powerful front legs ended in large claws with which it caught the fish in the water. The largest of the claws, protected by the horn, was almost 30 cm long.
It was better not to swim in the same pool as this dinosaur!
The Pteranodon is not a dinosaur per se. Nor is it a bird. Actually it is a flying reptile and not a flying dinosaur, but we decided to include it in this top because it lived at the same time as the dinosaurs and it is in many ways very scary.
The Pteranodon was therefore a four-legged reptile living in the Upper Cretaceous period and being able to fly, thanks to its large skin wings, a bit like the wings of bats. It measured about 6m (19.6ft) of wingspan for an average weight of about 15kg.
This giant of the skies belongs to the family of pterosaurs of which it is one of the largest specimens.
Given its relatively high weight for a flying animal, many specialists think that unlike birds the Pteranodon should not fly by flapping its wings but rather glide and be carried by the updrafts of warm air. It had a long crest and a long beak and probably fed mainly on fish.
Can you imagine an animal of this size dominating the sky above your head? Scary, isn't it?
This one isn't a dinosaur either, but we couldn't keep it out of our top, after all, we needed a representative of the skies as well as one of the seas. Besides, who will dare to tell us that this sea monster is not scary?
The Mosasaurus is a marine reptile that dominated the seas and oceans in the Upper Cretaceous period.
It looked like a mix between a shark and a crocodile. The Mosasaurus could measure up to 17m (55.7ft) long and weigh up to 600kg (1300Ib) .
The Mosasaurs had only a short reign, indeed, most of them lived only in the Maastrichtian, the last stage of the Cretaceous, and representing 5 million years. The extinction of the Cretaceous-Tertiary abruptly interrupted their evolution.
They had sharp teeth that allowed them to cut up their prey so that they could eat it better. It fed mainly on a little bit of everything it could find, turtles, ammonites, fish, or even other Mosasaurus smaller than itself.
I can guarantee you that if there was any doubt that these sea monsters still exist I would think twice before swimming.
Here it is, our ranking of the scariest dinosaurs is over, we hope you enjoyed reading it, don't hesitate to share this article if you liked it and to take a look at our shop specialized in dinosaur products.
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