STL Science Center
22 April 2016
Size and Andrewsarchus
How large is the purported largest terrestrial carnivore that ever lived? Andrewsarchus mongoliensis had the largest carnivore-like skull known for a terrestrial animal. At approximately 3 feet long, the skull is absolutely massive for a carnivorous animal, as we see them today. A modern adult tiger has a skull measuring 1.3 feet in length. A tiger is a large predator. Andrewsarchus was a nearly 3 times larger predator, if we assume the body estimate is allometric with the skull. Artistic interpretation of the size estimates of Andrewsarchus look something like this, which is quite impressive:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
cool beast i do not know if the size comparison is accurate or not but andrew reached 4 meters not 5
ReplyDeleteAll this assumption based merely on the one extant skull found in Mongolia? And none others?
ReplyDeleteLarger (more publicized) discoveries have been published on less material. A skull isn't a bad place to start. That said, none to my knowledge, but there could be more material out there.
Delete