Allosaurus: The Perfect Predator

I found Allosaurus always very elegant, especially with that long strong neck of his - a bit like a mythical dragon. Not to mention his well proportioned, petty formidably clawed forelimbs - and he always had that encouraging smile in his face. 😀

Some years ago I was at a museum, I think in Montana, and they had an Allosaurus skeleton there. The docent was explaining how in a human hand, the tendons that reach into our fingers are about 1/8" thick and those of an Allosaurus were an inch thick giving huge amounts of power to their hands/claws. Yeah, powerful and terrifying. Been my favorite dino for quite a while.

I liked Allosaurs since I was little, because there were some inspiring art work in a book I got as a child!!

At a length of roughly 28 feet long, 1.5 to 2 tons in weight, and a skull close to 3 feet long, was Allosaurus the perfect sized predator? Love to have you subscribe to Prehistoric Magazine www.prehistoricmagazine.com/subscribe.html

I'd say Cryolophasuarus, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus and Carnotaurus would fit the not too heavy not too slow catagory of frightening yet quick on its feet.

I do think that for it's time period Allosaurus would have been able to dabble in the best of both worlds, being able to be relatively fast and agile, yet big enough to capitalize off of it's size whenever necessary.

The fact that birds are the descendants of Theropod dinosaurs always intrigued me. Ever watch the behavior of birds? If large predatory birds like vultures gather around a kill on the ground, there isn't much smaller birds can do, they have to wait to eat after the larger group of birds is finished and then move in to eat, but a larger bird like an eagle or hawk or vulture or condor alone will get harassed by smaller birds until it leaves their area. I have seen sparrows, robins and bluejays do this to hawks, eagles, vultures and even crows. The smaller bird will fly around the larger birds head, and peck at it, until it gives up and leaves the area. The smaller bird can accomplish this because it is smaller and more maneuverable. Smaller birds flap their wings more and fly quicker, whereas large birds tend to do a lot of gliding and soaring. Maybe this is older and more ingrained behavior than we know. Maybe smaller predators like Allosaurus ran rings around a larger predator and drove it away by harassing it? That might be why Allosaurus was so prolific, there is strength in numbers, and more Allosaurus fossils are found in North America than any other large theropod. Just a thought.

Sorta like lightweight and featherweight boxers who are better pound-for-pound fighters.

cool model