There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
05-19-2020, 08:11 AM( This post was last modified: 06-06-2020, 04:09 PM by DinoFan83 )
I feel my posts on Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus size in this thread could use an update.
Overall, in my opinion and with the data I have gathered, Giganotosaurus does seem to be the larger animal, for several reasons:
-Comparing Sue/Scotty to MUCPv-Ch1 is an extremely misleading comparison; it is the largest and oldest Tyrannosaurus specimens in a sample size of well over 30 adults compared with the smallest Giganotosaurus in a sample of 2. By that logic, if we were comparing Sue and MUCPv-Ch1 as largest Tyrannosaurus and smallest Giganotosaurus, we could also compare Bucky to MUCPv-95 (9.49 tonnes) and come to the conclusion Giganotosaurus is over twice the size of Tyrannosaurus - obviously this is not the case. Therefore, using Sue or Scotty as the end-all representative for Tyrannosaurus is very misleading as there are many adult substantially smaller than both Sue/Scotty and our 2 Giganotosaurus specimens.
-At 7.53 tonnes, the Giganotosaurus holotype already matches or outsizes many Tyrannosaurus adults, such as CM 9380 (6-7 tonnes), BHI 3033 (6.3-7.2 tonnes), MOR 555 (6-6.5 tonnes), UCMP 118742 (6.6 to 7.3 tonnes depending on the base), AMNH 5027 (6.6-6.9 tonnes), MOR 008 (5.2-6.9 tonnes), LACM 23844 (6.3-7.3 tonnes), RTMP 81.12.1 (7.35 tonnes), BHI 4690 (3.5-4 tonnes), MOR 1125 (4-4.5 tonnes), Black Beauty (4.5-5 tonnes), USNM 6183 (>3.5 tonnes), and BHI 4182 (6.15 tonnes).*
-The average mass of the 2 Giganotosaurus specimens when using the GDI of GetAwayTrike's skeletals is 8.51 tonnes.
Meanwhile, the average length of all known femora of Tyrannosaurus adults, as per both Larson et al. 2008 (Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Tyrant King) and the Theropod Database is 119 centimeters, which is roughly a 6 tonne specimen. This means that, going on the average of known specimens, Giganotosaurus is 2.51 tonnes larger. It would also be well over a ton larger at maximum and 4+ tonnes larger at lower sizes.
Even if we discard MUCPv-95, that's still an animal with over 1.5 tonnes of mass advantage over the average Tyrannosaurus and larger than many specimens as I went over above.
*If you would like to know about how I obtained my size estimates for these specimens, ask and I'll gladly explain.