T is for Torvosaurus

At ScienceOnline 2013, marine biologist and Deep Sea News blogger Al Dove asked me about the reputation of Allosaurus. The 150 million year old hypercarnivore has often been treated as a smaller, weaker forerunner of the later Tyrannosaurus, as if the bones of Allosaurus testify “The one who comes after me is more powerful than I.” In the dinosaur books I grew up reading, Allosaurus was presented as the Jurassic theropod prototype which reached an apex in Tyrannosaurus, just before the non-avian dinosaurs were snuffed out. Al wanted to know whether such representations were accurate.

As I told Al, I hate to see Allosaurus get shortchanged. While the typical Allosaurus skeleton you’re bound to see in a museum

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