Bite Me

Behold! 8 ferocious dinosaurs unearthed in 2021

by Jennifer Walter
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Jorge Blanco and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

This year, paleontologists discovered scores of dinosaur species new to science.

2021 was no anomaly — every year ends with dozens of new species on the record.

The more scientists dig, the more mysteries they dig up, too.

Kurt Miller/Stocktrek Images/Stocktrek Images/Getty Images

Here are 8 of the most ferocious dinosaurs revealed in 2021:

8. Australotitan cooperensis

Also known as the southern titan, this herbivorous beast is the largest dinosaur ever found in Australia.

It’s estimated to have been up to 98 feet long and 21 feet tall at the hip — about as long as a basketball court and taller than a semi-truck.

You wouldn’t want to get caught beneath those feet.

7. Menefeeceratops sealeyi

Believed to be an early ancestor of Triceratops, this beast also ate plants and wielded some gnarly horns.

Sergey Krasovskiy

It’s one of the oldest known ceratopsid dinosaurs ever found. Menefeeceratops roamed modern-day New Mexico about 82 million years ago.

6. Ceratosuchops inferodios

Found on the U.K.’s Isle of Wight, this carnivore hunted prey on both land and water.

Anthony Hutchings

Its name translates to “horned crocodile-faced Hell heron” — fitting for a species that ferociously scooped prey out of the water like today’s herons do.

Anthony Hutchings
5. Riparovenator milnerae

A relative of Ceratosuchops, this dinosaur was another fearsome predator that lived on the Isle of Wight.

David Hone et al.

David Hone et al.

“It might sound odd to have two similar and closely related carnivores in an ecosystem, but this is actually very common for both dinosaurs and numerous living ecosystems.”

4. Spicomellus afer

Studded with fully-body armor, Spicomellus is the oldest ankylosaur ever found — and the first discovered on the African continent.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock

The researchers found that long spines were fused to the creature’s ribs and protruded above the skin.

3. Stegouros elengassen

Stegouros was a type of ankylosaur that had a flat, leaf-shaped tail like no other dinosaur. Its almost complete skeleton was discovered in subantarctic Chile.

Luis Pérez López

Luis Pérez López

Despite the weapon hanging off its back, Stegouros was rather small — reaching an estimated 6.5 feet long.

2. Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis

A single jawbone found in Uzbekistan led researchers to name a new carnivore — a predecessor to Tyrannosaurus Rex.

University of Tsukuba

It lived at the same time as small tyrannosaurs, and the discovery of Ulughbegsaurus helps researchers narrow down the time frame when tyrannosaurs became the reigning carnivores of the dinosaur world.

1. Llukalkan aliocranianus

Llukalkan roamed Patagonia in the Late Cretaceous while T. Rex stalked through the Northern Hemisphere.

Jorge Blanco and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

Its name comes from the native Mapuche language and translates to “one who causes fear.”