{"id":43951,"date":"2025-02-19T16:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T21:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/a-20-foot-long-mega-raptor-once-stalked-australia\/19\/02\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-02-19T16:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T21:41:10","slug":"a-20-foot-long-mega-raptor-once-stalked-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/a-20-foot-long-mega-raptor-once-stalked-australia\/19\/02\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"A 20-foot-long \u2018mega raptor\u2019 once stalked Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Modern Australia is known for its array of wildlife<\/a>: poisonous snakes<\/a> and spiders<\/a>, saltwater crocodiles<\/a>, koalas<\/a>, kangaroos<\/a>, and more. The continent was also once home to dinosaurs, including the giant Australotitan<\/em><\/a> and flying pterosaur Haliskia petersensi<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, paleontologists have found remains of the world\u2019s oldest known megaraptorid\u2013aka the \u2018mega raptor\u2019\u2013and the first evidence of a carcharodontosaurus in Australia. The fossils are described in a study published February 19 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology<\/em><\/a> and reveal what the predator hierarchy unique to Cretaceous Australia might have looked like.<\/p>\n

G\u2019day theropods<\/h2>\n

The megaraptorids<\/a> and carcharodontosaurus<\/em><\/a> were theropod dinosaurs. Theopods were primarily carnivores and walked on two hind legs. They range in size from the small Coelurosaur<\/em><\/a> up to the giant Tyrannosaurs<\/em><\/a>. Several theropod species also had feathers.<\/p>\n

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