Dino card No. 0488 of 2,027

Daspletosaurus

Say it: das-PLEET-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “frightful lizard”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursLate Cretaceous

Daspletosaurus was a big, scary meat-eater that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous. It had a huge head full of sharp teeth and small arms, just like its famous cousin Tyrannosaurus rex.1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils have been found in Alberta, Canada, and Montana, USA.1 2 4

Food

Meat1 4

Length

8.5 to 9 m1 2

average adult length

Weight

2 tonnes to 3 tonnes1

Height

2.2 m1

hip height

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

hip height

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2 cars

as long as 2 cars parked in a rowas long as 50 bananas end to endas heavy as 100 big dogsas heavy as 600 watermelonsabout as tall as a door

How big was Daspletosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Daspletosaurus lived about 77 to 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1

It had small arms, but they were proportionally longer than those of other tyrannosaurids like Tyrannosaurus.1

Scientists found a bonebed in Montana with three Daspletosaurus of different sizes, which might mean they lived in groups.1

Daspletosaurus sometimes lived alongside another tyrannosaur called Gorgosaurus, and they may have hunted different prey to avoid competition.1

One Daspletosaurus fossil had the remains of a baby hadrosaur in its belly, showing what it ate.1

Daspletosaurus is closely related to the much larger and later Tyrannosaurus rex.1

AI-made picture of Daspletosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Daspletosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Daspletosaurus

?How big was Daspletosaurus?

About 8.5 to 9 metres (28 to 30 feet) long and weighed 2 to 3 metric tons (2.2 to 3.3 short tons). One large specimen may have been over 9 metres (30 feet) long.1 2

?Was Daspletosaurus bigger than T. rex?

No, Daspletosaurus was smaller than T. rex. It was closely related to T. rex, but T. rex was much larger and lived later.1

?What did Daspletosaurus eat?

It was an apex predator that probably ate large dinosaurs like the horned Centrosaurus and the duck-billed Hypacrosaurus. One fossil even had a baby hadrosaur in its belly.1 3

?When did Daspletosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 77 to 74 million years ago.1 2

?Did Daspletosaurus have feathers?

No feather fossils have been found for Daspletosaurus, so it is typically depicted with scaly skin, though many of its relatives had feathers.1

?Could Daspletosaurus swim?

The sources do not say whether Daspletosaurus could swim. It lived near rivers and coastal plains, but there is no evidence about swimming ability.1 3

?How fast could Daspletosaurus run?

The sources do not give a running speed for Daspletosaurus. It was a large, heavy predator, so it probably was not very fast, but no exact speed is known.1

?Did Daspletosaurus live in groups?

Maybe. A bonebed in Montana had three Daspletosaurus of different sizes buried together, which might mean they lived in groups, but scientists are not sure.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Daspletosaurus was just a small Tyrannosaurus rex.

Truth: Daspletosaurus was a separate genus that lived millions of years before T. rex, and it was smaller, about 8.5 to 9 metres long.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Daspletosaurus
Named by: Russell 19704
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauridae4
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea > Tyrannosauridae4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Two Medicine, Oldman, Dinosaur Park4
Countries: USA, Canada4
Fossil records: 21 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The first fossil was found in 1921 in Alberta by Charles M. Sternberg, but it was named Daspletosaurus by Dale Russell in 1970.1 4
Still debated: Scientists debate whether some Daspletosaurus species evolved directly into later species, a process called anagenesis, or if they were separate branches.1

Where the facts come from

Daspletosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Daspletosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Dinosaur - Daspletosaurus torosus - The Australian Museum (australian.museum)
Daspletosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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