African Killer Dinosaur Eocarcharia

Eocarcharia and Pterodactylus

Eocarcharia was a relative of Carcharodontosaurus and lived in the Cretaceous Period in what is now the country of the Republic of Niger on the continent of Africa.  The name Eocarcharia means "dawn shark".  They had sharp teeth for tearing like a shark.   In fact Charcharodontosaurus means shark tooth and Eocarcharia was an early Carcharodontorsaur.  Its teeth were very knife-like and were used to kill and tear up prey.  This dinosaur, Eocarcharia, had a crest of sorts on the top front of  its skull that probably gave it a mean looking permanent scowl.  The dinosaur was about 26 feet or 8 meters long.  It was discovered by the famous paleontologist Paul Sereno. . . of the University of Chicago.  He, Dr. Paul Sereno is a National Geographic Explorer in Residence.  

 Pterodactylus was also a prehistoric animal found in Africa.  It has also been found in Europe.  Mostly juveniles have been found.  It had only about a meter or 3 feet wing span.  It was found in Late Jurassic Rocks but I supposed it may have lived in a more evolved form into the Cretaceous Period when Eocarcharia lived.  Pterodactylus had a crest and unlike Pteranodon, it had teeth.  It appears to have been a fish eater or piscivore.

The later Carcharodontosaurs were much bigger, perhaps even as big or bigger than T. rex.  The below drawings are from previous posts so they are found further up in the lists when you click on the buttons at the top of the page to get printable drawings.  Today's new drawing, the one with Eocarcharia and Pterodactylus is at the bottom of the page in the Mesozoic section when you click on the Paleontology button. . . OR at the bottom of the All Printables list. 

Carcharodontosaurus

This was possibly a descendant of Eocarcharia and it was much bigger than its ancestor.  It included two species and one species weighed as much as 15 tons and was around 44 feet or over 13 meters long.   If you wonder about the flowering plants, remember that pollen from flowers has been found dating way back to the Triassic Period, maybe even further back.  So yes, flowers existed in all of the dinosaur periods.   

Pteranodon evading a Tylosaurus

Pteranodon was a much larger Pterosaur buy it lacked teeth.This Pteranodon is avoiding becoming a meal for Tylosaurus.  Tylosaurus was a 55 foot or 17 meter long marine reptile of the Cretaceous Period.  Recent finds indicate that perhaps some of these Mosasaurs like Tylosaurus may have had tail flukes and not the eel-like tail.