The skull of a Mapusaurus is deep, short, and narrow, with relatively large triangular cavities in the front, relatively small openings in the jawbone, and narrow, unfused creased nasals.
The Mapusaurus had narrow blade-like teeth with wrinkled enamel, heavily sculptured facial bones, and a shelf above the eyes formed by an eyelid behind the eye socket.
The Mapusaurus skeletons found in Patagonia showed no signs of disease, making it likely that they died as a result of a sudden, catastrophic event. The bones were found together in a river flood deposit, so they may have been carried off by a flash flood.
I’m not sure why, but it seems to be natural for a lot of people to want to spell the name of this dinosaur with an “a” after the “p”, instead of a “u”. Just to clarify:
Mapusaurus is the correct spelling (notice the “u” after the “p”).
Mapasaurus is incorrect. (notice the “a” after the “p”).
The picture below (photo by Rodolfo Coria, The Associated Press), shows a reconstruction of the head of a Mapusaurus roseae.
Mapusaurus roseae lived in the region of Plaza Huincul, Patagonia, Argentina. This region is fascinating to dinosaur-lovers. The plains of Plaza Huincul were home to the largest, most extreme dinosaurs that ever lived.
Patagonia’s surface rock structure makes finding fossils fairly easy. And the discoveries of giant dinosaurs in this region have been astounding. Not only did the Mapusaurus live here, but also the Giganotosaurus and the Argentinasaurus.
For more information about the Patagonian region of Plaza Huincul, you can visit Welcome Argentina. They have some nice photos and information about this famous dinosaur home.
Mapusaurus is pronounced (mah-puh-SORE-uss).
The Mapusaurus probably worked together as a pack in order to kill animals larger than themselves, such as the 125-foot, 100-ton Argentinosaur. The Argentinosaur was a plant-eating dinosaur, and may have been the largest land animal that ever lived.
Mapusaurus would likely run in, slice out gouges of an animal, and then retreat, waiting for it to bleed to death. Working together would make this a different hunting technique than that of dinosaurs such as the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Mapusaurus were probably slightly bigger than T. rex. Although both animals were large, bulky “macropredators” that walked on their hind legs and used their teeth as their basic weapons, there were significant differences.
“Mapusaurs have long, thin skulls with knife-like teeth and jaws that can close very fast,” Philip Currie said. “T. rex has a short skull with powerful, banana-shaped teeth better for biting through bone.”
The Mapusaurs’ teeth were about the length of one human hand and had thin, blade-like teeth capable of slicing the flesh of other dinosaurs, unlike T-rex’s stronger, spike-shaped teeth that crunched through its prey. Because Mapusaurus had smaller brains, and heavier, shorter legs than T-rex, it would not have been able to run as fast on its hind legs. However, since it chased slower, larger animals, it was able to hunt efficiently.
“During the attack, what it could do is run in, take a big gouge out of an animal, move back and then hopefully wait for it to bleed to death. A very different kind of technique.”
Because the excavation found hundreds of bones from several Mapusaurus individuals (7 to 9 total), but none from any other creature, it is likely that they lived in groups. This social behavior may also have resulted in the dinosaurs hunting in packs, however, there is no direct evidence of pack hunting.
It is estimated that Mapusaurus, a large dinosaur, lived about 100 million years ago.
The Mapusaurus is one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs known, however its exact size can only be estimated. It appears to be approximately 41 feet long, but one complete skeleton has not yet been found, so the size must calculated based on the size of the partial skeletons found.