Tarbosaurus

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Tarbosaurus was the second largest known member of the Tyrannosaur family, after Tyrannosaurus rex. It lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous Period.

Facts

It was a large predator, up to 11-12.5 m (36-46 ft.) in length and weighed up to 5-6 tonnes. It lived in inner Asia (Mongolia and the neighboring countries like China) and belonged to the tyrannosaurid branch of the Theropod family: i.e., it was an Asian cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus. In fact, in some books it is called the Asian T-Rex and for a while many scientists considered the two dinosaurs to be close relatives.

Tarbosaurus drinking from a lake. (The Giant Claw)

The top predators of Mongolia in the Late Cretaceous, Tarbosaurus were the biggest land predators of their time because they stood tall vertically. Tiny limbs at the front (even smaller than Tyrannosaurus) helped balance that massive head with a huge skull and massive teeth that evolved to make devastating bites into prey and pull out chunks of flesh.

Juvenile Tarbosaurs were much more gracile than the adults, indicating that this dinosaur hunted different prey using different hunting strategies during different periods of its life (just as T-Rex appeared to have done as well).

Therizinosaurus fighting Tarbosaurus. (The Giant Claw)

However, the two carnivores have skeletal differences (especially in their skulls) that imply that they had slightly different hunting strategies, and also Tarbosaurus was a chronologically older species than the Tyrannosaurus, making it a more basic or primitive animal. "Tarbosaurus" appears to have fairly limited binocular vision due to the fact that it has a narrower skull like most other tyrannosaurids. It died out 5 million years before the end of the Mesozoic Era, 70 MYA.

In the Series

Chased by Dinosaurs

Trailer

A Tarbosaurus, along with a pack of Velociraptor, were seen chasing Nigel Marven.

The Giant Claw

Tarbosaurus is featured in the second episode The Giant Claw, where it was shown to be the top predator of the Gobi Desert.

Nigel Marven being chased by Tarbosaurus. (Sea Monsters)

It hunted such animals as Mononykus, Protoceratops, Saurolophus and Therizinosaurus. Yet Therizinosaurus could put up a sufficiently spirited defense to defeat even this alpha predator, as featured in the episode, when a Tarbosaurus is whacked in the face by a Therezinosaurus' giant claws.

Sea Monsters

It is only seen in the in the introduction where it chased Nigel to the point he jumps into a nearby ocean.

Walking With Dinosaurs: Inside Their World

Tarbosaurus is one of the viewable dinosaurs in the app. In the Diet of Dinosaurs section, it is seen killing a Gallimimus. It is also seen in the Therezinosaurus page fighting the dinosaur.

Errors

Tarbosaurus was actually larger than Therizinosaurus was.