Majungasaurus: Dinosaur Extinction

Majungasaurus was an average sized (compared to it’s close relatives) theropod dinosaur that lived in Madagascar from 70 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Like other abelisaurids (members of the family Abelisauridae) , the Majungasaurus was a two-footed predator with a short snout. Although the forelimbs are not completely known as of yet, they were very short, while the hind limbs were longer and quite stocky. It can be distinguished from other dinosaurs in it’s family by its wider skull, the very rough texture and thickened bone on the top of its snout, and the single rounded horn on the roof of its skull. It also had more teeth in both upper and lower jaws. Known from several well-preserved skulls and abundant …show more content…
The hand and finger bones of Majungasaurus, lacked the characteristic pits and grooves where claws and tendons would normally attach, and its finger bones were fused together, indicating that the hand was immobile. In 2012, a better specimen was described, showing that the lower arm was robust, though short, and that the hand contained four metatarsals and four, probably inflexible and very reduced, fingers, with small claws on the second and third finger. Like other abelisaurids, the hindlimbs were stocky and short compared to body length. Majungasaurus is perhaps most distinctive for its skull ornamentation, including the swollen and fused nasals and the frontal horn. Other ceratosaurs, including Carnotaurus, Rajasaurus, and Ceratosaurus itself bore crests on the head. These structures are likely to have played a role in intraspecific competition, although their exact function within that context is unknown. The hollow cavity inside the frontal horn of Majungasaurus would have weakened the structure and probably precluded its use in direct physical combat, although the horn may have served a display