Megalosaurus

dinosaur · carnivore · ancient predator · Jurassic

Fierce hunter. Megalosaurus was a large carnivorous theropod dinosaur, meaning it walked on powerful back legs and had tiny arms. It hunted other dinosaurs in what is now southern England millions of years ago.

English discovery. The only fossils we can definitely say belonged to Megalosaurus were found in Oxfordshire, England. Scientists have tried to assign other dinosaur fossils from around the world to this genus, but those remains are too uncertain to be sure.

Middle Jurassic time. Megalosaurus lived during the Middle Jurassic Epoch, which was a very long time ago when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. This was about 170 to 175 million years before today.

Theropod dinosaur. Megalosaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs called theropods, which were mostly carnivores that walked on two legs. Many of the scariest dinosaurs, including the much larger T-Rex, were theropods too.