Question 1

How do you say Tarbosaurus?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus is pronounced TAR-bow-SORE-us. Break it into four parts: TAR, like the sticky black stuff on roads, then bow rhyming with go, then SORE like a sore muscle, then us. Put the stress on the first and third syllables and you have it exactly right. Once you say it a few times it becomes really satisfying to say out loud.

Question 2

What does Tarbosaurus mean?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus means alarming lizard or terror lizard. The name comes from the Ancient Greek words tarbos, meaning terror or alarm, and sauros, meaning lizard. The species name bataar is a Mongolian word meaning hero, so the full name Tarbosaurus bataar roughly translates to heroic terror lizard. Soviet paleontologist Evgeny Maleev chose this name in 1955 after recovering the first described specimens from Mongolia.

Question 3

How big was Tarbosaurus?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus was enormous, reaching lengths of up to 40 feet, which is about as long as a city bus. It weighed somewhere between 8,800 and 13,200 pounds, making it heavier than most African elephants. Its skull alone could be nearly five feet long. It was one of the largest predators that ever lived in Asia and one of the biggest tyrannosaurs known to science.

Question 4

Was Tarbosaurus dangerous?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus was almost certainly one of the most dangerous predators of its time and place. It had a skull reinforced with fused bones and a uniquely rigid jaw designed for maximum crushing force. Its serrated teeth could rip through flesh and crack bone with ease. CT scan studies of its brain show highly developed senses of smell and hearing, making it an efficient hunter. Anything living in the Nemegt Basin 70 million years ago would have been right to be afraid of it.

Question 5

Is Tarbosaurus the same as T. rex?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus is not the same as T. rex, but they are close relatives within the tyrannosaur family. They lived on different continents: T. rex in North America and Tarbosaurus in Asia. Some scientists have argued Tarbosaurus should be classified as an Asian species of Tyrannosaurus, but most current paleontologists treat them as separate genera. One key difference is that Tarbosaurus had a more rigid lower jaw, while T. rex had slightly more flexible jaw joints. They represent two different evolutionary solutions to being an apex predator.

Question 6

Where did Tarbosaurus live?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus lived in what is now Mongolia and possibly parts of China. Most fossils come from the Nemegt Formation in southern Mongolia's Gobi Desert region. Seventy million years ago that area was not a desert at all but a lush river delta environment with floodplains, waterways, and dense plant life. It shared this habitat with giant sauropods, duck-billed dinosaurs, and many other prehistoric creatures. More fragmentary fossils suggesting Tarbosaurus or a close relative have also been found in China's Subashi Formation.

Question 7

When did Tarbosaurus live?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 72 to 66 million years ago. It was alive right up to the end of the age of dinosaurs, meaning it was one of the last giant tyrannosaurs to walk the Earth before the mass extinction event 66 million years ago. It overlapped in time with T. rex, which also lived right at the very end of the Cretaceous, just on the other side of the world.

Question 8

How many Tarbosaurus fossils have been found?

Accepted Answer

More than 30 Tarbosaurus specimens have been recovered, including several complete or near-complete skulls and skeletons. This makes Tarbosaurus one of the best-documented large tyrannosaurs in the fossil record. Multiple specimens representing different growth stages have been found, from juveniles to large adults, allowing scientists to study how the animal changed as it grew. The abundance of fossils comes primarily from the extraordinarily productive Nemegt Formation in Mongolia.

Question 9

What did Tarbosaurus eat?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus was a pure carnivore that likely preyed on the large plant-eating dinosaurs sharing its habitat. Prime candidates include the hadrosaur Saurolophus, which roamed in herds across the Nemegt floodplains, and possibly even the large sauropods like Opisthocoelicaudia. Its bone-crushing bite suggests it may have also scavenged carcasses, consuming bones and all. Brain studies indicate it had an extraordinary sense of smell, which would have helped it locate both living prey and carrion across large distances.

Question 10

Did Tarbosaurus have feathers?

Accepted Answer

Scientists are not certain whether adult Tarbosaurus had feathers, but most paleontologists currently think large tyrannosaurs were primarily scaly as adults. Some closely related tyrannosaurs from China have been found with feather impressions, and it is possible that juvenile Tarbosaurus had a downy feather covering for warmth. However, large body size tends to reduce the need for insulation, and skin impressions from large tyrannosaurs generally show scales rather than feathers. The honest answer is that we do not have definitive skin impressions from Tarbosaurus itself yet.

Question 11

Why was a Tarbosaurus skull sold at auction?

Accepted Answer

In 2012 a nearly complete Tarbosaurus skeleton was put up for auction in New York and was expected to fetch over one million dollars. Paleontologist Mark Norell and others recognized that the fossil almost certainly came from the protected Nemegt Formation in Mongolia, where it would have been illegal to collect and export. Authorities intervened and seized the skeleton before it could be sold. After legal proceedings in the United States, the skeleton was returned to the government of Mongolia in 2013. The case became a landmark moment in the global fight against fossil trafficking.

Question 12

How did Tarbosaurus compare to other Asian dinosaurs?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus was the undisputed apex predator of the Nemegt ecosystem and significantly larger than any other predatory dinosaur sharing its habitat. Smaller theropods like Deinocheirus, which was strange and enormous in its own right but not a carnivore, and various smaller hunters also lived in the region. No other predator in the Nemegt Formation came close to Tarbosaurus in raw size and power. It occupied the same ecological role in Asia that T. rex filled in North America, sitting alone at the very top of the food chain.

Question 13

Who discovered Tarbosaurus?

Accepted Answer

Tarbosaurus was formally named and described by Soviet paleontologist Evgeny Maleev in 1955, based on fossils collected during Soviet and Mongolian joint expeditions to the Gobi Desert. However, fieldwork in the region had been ongoing since the late 1940s, with teams recovering extraordinary amounts of dinosaur material from the Nemegt Formation. Maleev examined the tyrannosaur remains and recognized them as a new genus and species, giving it the name Tarbosaurus bataar.

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