Critter of the Day, 5/6/09: Appalachiosaurus

Today's featured critter: a little beastie called Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis from the Upper Cretaceous of Alabama. This tyrannosaurid (T. rex's dysfunctional, extended family) is one of the most complete dinosaurs known from the American South. This 23-foot (7 metres, for our cousins across the pond and every other country on the planet) tyrannosaur was named by Thomas Carr (et. al) in 2005, and probably preyed upon and ate hadrosaurs and other herbivores, probably stopping to scavenge some dinosaur corpses along the way. Considering that it lived near the coast, there's also the possibility it could have taken to a seafood diet, maybe scavenging beached mosasaurs of plesiosaurs (not exactly fine cuisine).