In almost all science fiction works, Tyrannosaurus rex is the most ferocious killer of the dinosaur era. Its huge size, terrifying roar, and brutal personality make it proud of all creatures of the dinosaur era, running rampant on the earth tens of millions of years ago.
(Photo caption: Uluberg dragon, a prehistoric behemoth that once crushed the Tyrannosaurus rex)
However, Tyrannosaurus rex is not always at the top of the absolute food chain, and they have also encountered more powerful opponents. Of course, we're not talking about Spinosaurus, it's just a monster described in the science fiction work Jurassic Park 3 as a monster that can slaughter Tyrannosaurus Rex, just a gimmick. And in real history, there have really been prehistoric killers who are more fierce than T-Rex.
This dinosaur was found in uzbekistan's Kyzylkum Desert in the 1980s, and its huge fossil jaws are preserved in a museum in the country. In 2019, paleontologists took it out, conducted studies, and confirmed that it was a brand new prehistoric killer, and it was very powerful.
(Photo caption: Fossil jaw of Urubergosaurus)
They named the dinosaur after the 15th-century Uzbek scholar Ulugh Beg, who was also a god, not only an astronomer and mathematician, but also the king of the Timurid Empire (the Timurid Empire is also a country derived from the Yuan Dynasty). The name of this dinosaur is Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis, which translates to Uzbekistan Urubergosaurus.
From the excavated fossil jaws, the researchers determined that it belonged to a genus of sharks ( also known as the man-eating shark ) . As the name suggests, the teeth of this dinosaur are as terrifying as sharks, and it is clear from hearing that this dinosaur was also a very brutal carnivore at that time. They are cousins of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, and Tyrannosaurus rex is the most famous of the tyrannosaurs, that is, the Rex Tyrannosaurus.
(Caption: Tyrannosaurus Rex)
Studies have shown that this Ulubergolong lived about 90 million years ago. At that time, the ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex had already appeared and were also distributed throughout Uzbekistan. That is to say, this pair of "cousins" is still competitors to some extent.
Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor of paleontology at the University of Calgary in Canada, who studied the fossil, pointed out that shark-toothed dragons and tyrannosaurs have many similarities, but in terms of body size, tyrannosaurs are more majestic, while shark-toothed dragons are more compact and flexible — of course, this is only relative to tyrannosaurs.
It must be noted that this comparison of body size is derived from the data when both dinosaurs were at their peak. In the days when Urubergeron lived, the situation was different. At that time, Tyrannosaurus had just evolved, and it was not so large.
(Photo caption: Restoration of Timurid Tyrannosaurus rex)
A few years ago, paleontologists had just discovered a new tyrannosaur in Uzbekistan called Timurlengia. Studies have shown that Tamerlane Tyrannosaurus lived between 90 million and 85 million years ago. That is to say, Tamerlane Tyrannosaurus was one of the earliest tyrannosaurs and lived on the same land as Urubergosaurus.
The "clash" between the two killers seems inevitable.
However, in terms of body size, the two are far apart.
(Caption: Tamerlane Tyrannosaurus and Human Body Size Comparison)
Tamerlane Tyrannosaurus was not very large, and if you look at the comparison chart above, you will find that their height is not much different from that of an adult man. Specifically, Timur Tyrannosaurus was about 4 meters long, which also included a huge tail. They weigh about 170 kilograms – a weight that humans can also reach, so they are indeed small.
In contrast, shark-toothed dragons were much larger, typically weighing up to 6 tons, dozens of times larger than Tamerlane Tyrannosaurus. Although this Ulubergosaurus was not so large, it also reached 8 meters in length and weighed 1 ton, surpassing Timur Tyrannosaurus. It can be said that in the land of Uzbekistan 90 million years ago, Urubergolong may well be the deserved hegemon. The large dinosaurs that lived in this land at that time, such as Triceratops, were probably prey to Ulubergosaurus.
(Caption: Comparison of the size of Ulubergosaurus and Timurid tyrannosaurs)
The researchers tell us that this is the first time in history that evidence of the existence of sharktoothosaurs has been found in Central Asia. Kohei Tanaka, an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, who is the lead researcher of the study, said: "Our findings show that sharktooth dragons still dominated Asia until 90 million years ago. ”
Peter Makovicky, a professor of paleontology at the University of Minnesota, was not involved in the study, but he was also very sympathetic to the dominance of Ulubergeron. "I think that such a huge skeleton shows that this predator must be a very large dinosaur and is very likely to be in the top predator position in the ecosystem to which it belongs," he said. ”
(Photo caption: T. rex rose after the extinction of Sharktooth)
The research team also pointed out that Urubergosaurus lived in the last age of the intersection of sharktooth and tyrannosaurus, and soon after, that is, 90 million to 80 million years ago, these sharktooth dragons were completely extinct. It was after the disappearance of the shark-toothed dragon that the tyrannosaur ushered in its own era, gradually becoming larger and larger, so that it weighed nearly 10 tons, thus becoming the strongest killer in Asia and North America.
Researchers have also found something noteworthy about this Ulubergolong. He has very special bony protrusions above his teeth. Not only that, but it also has bony crests on either side of its chin, which is somewhat similar to another dinosaur, that is, Thanatotheristes degrootorum. The latter, also a species of Tyrannosaurus, lived in Canada 79.5 million years ago and was just made public last year. Its nickname is the realm of death, so some call it Death Tyrannosaurus.
(Photo caption: Death Tyrannosaurus Reverted)
Zelenitsky said: "They don't know the cause of this crest yet, but it is most likely a typical manifestation of convergent evolution." The so-called convergent evolution is that two unrelated species, such as Urubergosaurus and Death Tyrannosaurus rex, evolved similar characteristics in the same environment. There are also modern worlds, such as dolphins are mammals and sharks are fish, but they all have similar dorsal fins and streamlined bodies.
The habits and physical characteristics of Ulubergosaurus and other shark-toothed dragons are still awaiting the excavation of more fossils. As the super killers who once crushed Tyrannosaurus rex, why they went extinct is also a confusing question. The factors that can make this terrible creature extinct must be very scary.