Carnotaurus vs Pachycephalosaurus

A detailed side-by-side comparison of Carnotaurus and Pachycephalosaurus, covering size, diet, classification, geologic period, and discovery history.

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Side-by-Side Comparison

Property	Carnotaurus	Pachycephalosaurus
Scientific Name	Carnotaurus sastrei	Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis
Classification	Theropoda	Pachycephalosauria
Period	Cretaceous Late	Cretaceous Late
Diet	Carnivore	Herbivore
Length	7.5 m	4.5 m
Height	2.5 m	1.8 m
Weight	1.4 t	450 kg
Discovery Year	1985	1943
Discovery Location	Chubut Province, Argentina	Montana, USA
Named By	Jose Bonaparte	Barnum Brown & Erich Schlaikjer

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Size Comparison

Carnotaurus 7.5 m

roughly the length of a large SUV

Pachycephalosaurus 4.5 m

roughly the length of a large SUV

Weight Comparison

Carnotaurus 1.4 t

comparable to 1.4 small cars

Pachycephalosaurus 450 kg

about 6 adult humans

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Timeline Comparison

Carnotaurus

100.5 Mya Cretaceous Late (Mesozoic) 66.0 Mya

Pachycephalosaurus

100.5 Mya Cretaceous Late (Mesozoic) 66.0 Mya

Carnotaurus and Pachycephalosaurus both lived during the Cretaceous Late period and may have shared the same habitats.

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Diet Comparison

Carnotaurus

Carnivore

Carnotaurus was a meat-eating predator, hunting other animals for food.

Pachycephalosaurus

Herbivore

Pachycephalosaurus was a plant-eater, feeding on vegetation like ferns, conifers, and cycads.

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Classification Comparison

Carnotaurus

Clade: Saurischia

Group: Theropoda

(Beast feet)

Pachycephalosaurus

Clade: Ornithischia

Group: Pachycephalosauria

(Thick-headed lizards)

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Did You Know?

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Carnotaurus was about 1.7x longer than Pachycephalosaurus.

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Carnotaurus weighed roughly 3x more than Pachycephalosaurus.

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Carnotaurus was a carnivore while Pachycephalosaurus was a herbivore.

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Both dinosaurs lived during the Cretaceous Late period and may have coexisted.

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Pachycephalosaurus was discovered 42 years earlier, in 1943.

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Carnotaurus belonged to Theropoda while Pachycephalosaurus belonged to Pachycephalosauria.

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Explore These Dinosaurs

Carnotaurus

Carnotaurus sastrei

7.5m long, 2.5m tall, 1.4t · Cretaceous Late

Pachycephalosaurus

Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis

4.5m long, 1.8m tall, 450.0kg · Cretaceous Late

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