Scientists Find Shark-Toothed Dinosaur in Uzbekistan

Shark-toothed dinosaurs topped the food chain before entering the tyrannosaurs.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — A new study by a team of scientists found that about 90 million years ago, carnivorous dinosaurs with shark-like teeth roamed Uzbekistan. This 26-foot (8-meter) long animal is known to weigh up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms). This size makes it stated longer than the African elephant and weighs more than the bison.

The researchers named it Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis (U. uzbekistanensis), named after Ulugh Beg, 15th century astronomer, mathematician and sultan of what is now Uzbekistan.

What surprised scientists was that the dinosaur was much larger, even reaching twice its length and more than five times heavier than the previously known apex predator of its ecosystem, namely tyrannosaurus.

The jawbone fragment of the dinosaur was first discovered in Kyzylkum Desert in Uzbekistan in the 1980s. Researchers rediscovered it in 2019 in the collections of museums in the country.

Partial jawbone U. uzbekistanensis enough to show that the animal is prisonodontosaurus, or a shark-toothed dinosaur. These carnivores are cousins ​​and competitors tyrannosaurus, with the most famous species being Tyrannosaurus rex. These two types of dinosaurs are quite similar, however prisonodontosaurus generally slimmer and lighter in body than tyrannosaurus big bodied.

Even so, prisonodontosaurus usually bigger than dinosaurs tyrannosaurus, which weighs over 13,200 pounds (6,000 kg). Then, about 90 million to 80 million years ago, prisonodontosaurus disappeared and tyrannosaurus emerged, taking over as the apex predator in Asia and North America.

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