An Old Ugly Dinosaur

©Nobu Tamura

One thing that creeps into horror movies and the Halloween season every year is the act of cannibalism. There are cannibalistic animals throughout the animal world but it is a taboo in most human societies and that makes many of us cringe when we hear about cannibalism in animal groups. Dinosaur cannibalism is rarely documented, but one theropod is particularly well known for its cannibalistic behaviors. Majungasaurus crenatissimus was an abelisaurid theropod and the apex, and possibly only large, predator of Madagascar during Late Cretaceous. At the time Madagascar was already an island separated from both the Indian subcontinent and African continent. As the largest predator on the island Majungasaurus had only other members of its species to truly challenge its supremacy as a predator on the island. Whether these clashes led to the evidence of cannibalism or it was a result of scavenging we do not know. However, Majungasaurus' cannibalistic behaviors and its abelisaurid body plan and often craggy frightening skull morphology make this theropod one of the ugly and frightening fossil animals that deservedly we are discussing during October and during the week leading into the Halloween week.