Somewhat similar to the Tyrannosaurus, the Cincinnati Museum Center's new dinosaur, Torvosaurus, is the only one of its kind. Until the fossilized remains were found largely intact in 2013, researchers had only uncovered random bones.
The skeleton is 55 percent complete.
"This is a very exciting fossil," says Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Glenn Storrs. "It's a giant, carnivorous dinosaur from the late Jurassic. (It was) presumably the apex predator preying on all the other dinosaurs, and it is the only associated skeleton of its kind in the world. This dinosaur was previously only known from isolated bones or sets of bones and now we have more than half of a skeleton."
Like the T-rex, Torvosaurus tanneri was bipedal. However, the Torvosaurus is much older, slightly smaller, and has bigger arms with three fingers. It is part of the Megalosaurus family. It has a long, narrow snout with teeth ranging in size from six to 10 inches.
The skeleton was discovered in Dinosaur, Colorado by Cincinnati native Jason Cooper who decided the bones should be sent to his hometown.
"This has always been a dream of me and my family to get something like this back to Cincinnati," Cooper says. "That's where we came from and Cincinnati Museum Center has developed into this national dinosaur treasure museum."
With this addition, plus the Galeamopus unveiled earlier this year and the museum's extensive research collection, Cincinnati is turning into a dino hot spot.
"Scientists do travel from around the world to come and visit our collections. This Torvosaurus will be particularly exciting for them because, as I mentioned, it's the only associated skeleton, it's the only original Torvosaurus skeleton exhibited anywhere, and if people want to see Torvosaurus they'll have to come to Cincinnati."
The museum's Dinosaur Hall opens with the renovated Union Terminal reopens in November.
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