2.19" Carcharodontosaurus Tooth In Situ - Dekkar Formation, Morocco

In the past year these distinctive dark brown fossil dinosaur and reptile teeth have begun to appear on the market in limited quantities. They are found in Anoual Region of Morocco near Talsint. These teeth have almost always been incorrectly identified as being Jurassic in age and are sometimes assigned wildly inaccurate identifications based on the incorrect age.

These fossil teeth are coming out of the Late Cretaceous Dekkar Formation. This formation is considered an equivalent to the Kem Kem Beds several hundred miles South and the species appear to be the same or at least very similar. Part of the confusion is that very limited geological mapping had been done in this region of Morocco until recently. Most of the mapped formations were Jurassic, so people just made assumptions.

They are very interesting teeth with different preservation than the Kem Kem Beds. The rock holds together better allowing many to be prepped in the matrix, something rarely seen with Kem Kem teeth.

Carcharodontosaurus comprised a genus of dinosaurs that dominated the land between 100-93 million years ago, during the mid-Cretaceous Period. This genus is currently known to include two gigantic species, which were among the largest known predatory dinosaurs. There were immense as the genera Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus, but not as colossal as Spinosaurus.



Along with the spinosaurids, carcharodontosaurids were the largest predators in the early and middle Cretaceous throughout Gondwana, with species also present in North America (Acrocanthosaurus), and Asia (Shaochilong). Various scientists submit length estimates for C. saharicus ranging between 12 and 13 m (39-43.5 ft) and weight estimates between 6 and 15 metric tons.



Carcharodontosaurids were a scourge of the land as giant, shark-toothed terrors in a world of monsters. Though spinosaurids would have been a formidable enemy, they may have occupied a semi-aquatic niche which reduced competition. Both giant hunters also shared their world with menacing, 30 foot ancient crocodiles that had a taste for dinosaur.

Past the Turonian (93.9-89.8 mya), Carcharodontosaurus might have been replaced by the smaller abelisaurids in Gondwana and by tyrannosaurids in North America and Asia. The disappearance of carcharodontosaurids, spinosaurids and other fauna in Gondwana and across the world, suggests a global replacement event. Despite the event, fossils discovered in Brazil which appear to be carcharodontosaurids, indicate some survivors of this group until the latest stage of the Cretaceous.