Massive and ‘lethal’ Giganotosaurus is taking dominion in “Jurassic World”

“Jurassic Park” was big. “Jurassic World” was bigger. In all, the franchise ascended to fame behind big concepts, big sales, big teeth and dinosaurs too big to be contained.

First published in 1990 by Alfred A. Knopf, “Jurassic Park” began with author Michael Crichton’s no. 1 New York Times bestselling science fiction novel. The story followed the failures of a soon-to-open amusement park on an island in Costa Rica that aimed to exhibit genetically created dinosaurs to the world for the very first time. With more than nine million copies sold, "Jurassic Park" made its big debut and the theme hasn't ceased since.

The original film adaptation released June 11, 1993. It showcased the cinematic promise "Jurassic Park" possessed by banking more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office. It didn’t hurt any that the picture was directed by Steven Spielberg, the Academy Award winning filmmaker who directed the famed creature feature, “Jaws,” 18 years earlier.

Crichton’s original novel spawned a sequel novel, film franchise, theme park rides, a popular Netflix series, and more video games, toys and merchandise than can be remotely quantified. With respect to the films, CNBC reported last year that the “Jurassic Park” film franchise grossed $4.99 billion at the global box office, that with only five films released. The franchise's sixth film, "Jurassic World Dominion," is releasing this week.

Paralleling its predecessors, “Dominion” is going big too. Universal Pictures' brief synopsis for the film sets the stage: “Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, dinosaurs now live – and hunt – alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures in a new Era.”

Fulfilling its billing, Chaos Theory mathematician, Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum), foreshadowed the next walloping heavyweight making its ominous debut in the “Jurassic World” trilogy. Upon being met in the trailer by a thunderous-stepping, colossal creature emerging from the shadows of a forest on fire, Malcolm points out, "bigger,” while looking upward at the looming behemoth. “Why do they always have to go bigger?”

In the second-released “Dominion” trailer, paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) informs that the dinosaur approaching is the “biggest carnivore the world has ever seen.” Though that title now likely belongs to the semi-aquatic Spinosaurus, which paleontologists believe to be about a half-ton heavier, Grant’s declaration gets the point across about the highly anticipated Giganotosaurus.

Giganotosaurus figures capable of surpassing all as the ultimate fearsome antagonist in the saga’s finale film, which promises to be the epic conclusion of the Jurassic era. The apex predator is one of the largest-known, terrestrial, carnivorous dinosaurs in paleontological history. Where the prior two “Jurassic World” films relied on fictionalized genetic hybrid villain dinosaurs – the Indominus Rex and Indoraptor creations – Giganotosaurus really lived on Earth, dominating its era and region.

Pronounced jig-a-NOT-oh-SAWR-us, its Greek name, Giganotosaurus, translates to “giant southern lizard.” The meat-eating, bipedal, theropod dinosaur from Argentina grew to about 39 to 45 feet long and 12 feet tall. An adult Giganotosaurus is estimated to weigh up to eight tons. By comparison, Tyrannosaurus rex, which lived in North America about 30 million years after Giganotosaurus, is believed to grow up to 40 feet long, 12 feet tall, and between 5.5 tons to 7.75 tons.

Giganotosaurus lived approximately 99.6 to 97 million years ago at the end of the Mesozoic Era. Its hefty skull was between five and six feet in length, although it is suspected to have contained a small brain. The savage dinosaur had powerful jaws housing knife-like, 8-inch-long curved teeth with jagged edges, along with three long toes with sharp claws.

According to the book, “Giganotosaurus,” by paleontologist Fabio Marco Dalla Vecchia, “Giganotosaurus used these teeth to rip large pieces of meat from the body of its prey. It swallowed these pieces whole, without chewing.”

Explaining further, Dalla Vecchia said, “We know that Giganotosaurus was lethal to its prey because of the shape of its teeth and claws, and its body size and robustness. As far as we know, it was the top predator of Argentina around 95 million years ago.”

In his book, Dalla Vecchia wrote that Giganotosaurus’ three-clawed fingers were used to grasp its prey. He explained that an adult Giganotosaurus was a fierce predator needing to eat around 44 pounds of meat per day for survival. The dinosaur preyed on plant-eating animals much larger than itself and once it made a kill, it would have ample food to live on for weeks. Therefore, Giganotosaurus didn’t have to hunt often. Paleontologists also believe Giganotosaurus scavenged available remains of other dinosaurs when needed.

“The amount of food required depended upon the metabolism of the animal,” said Dalla Vecchia. “If Giganotosaurus had the same metabolism as the large living reptiles, it did not need to feed continuously like the so called "warm-blooded" animals.”

Giganotosaurus was originally discovered by dinosaur hobbyist Ruben Carolini in July 1993, a month after the original “Jurassic Park” film released. Carolini discovered the astonishing carnivore in the Neuquén Province of Patagonia, a South American region of southern Argentina that's laden with dinosaur history. Giganotosaurus fossils were uncovered from deposits in the Candeleros Formation of Patagonia. The recovered skeleton was about 70 percent complete. Parts of the Giganotosaurus skull, backbone, pelvis, and leg bones were unearthed in the milestone dig.

Due to the unfinished skeleton, Dalla Vecchia clarified, “Actually, it cannot be affirmed for sure that Giganotosaurus was larger than T-Rex because we still have a very small and incomplete sample to allow comparisons.”

Argentine paleontologists Rodolfo Coria and Leonardo Salgado directed the original field study about Giganotosaurus. In 1995, to honor Carolini, Coria and Salgado named the species, Giganotosaurus carolinii.

“So far,” Coria said, “Giganotosaurus is the biggest predator known from its environment. In its ecosystem, he probably occupied the role of top predator like lions in the present African savanna.”

Coria and Salgado described Giganotosaurus in their groundbreaking September, 1995 scholarly research paper, “A new giant carnivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Patagonia.” The paper published in the renowned science journal, "Nature." Coria and Salgado characterized the dinosaur with a proportionally low skull, reduced shoulder girdle, a robust vertebrae and hind limbs.

“For an adult Giganotosaurus, I believe it had no natural predators,” Coria said. “The juveniles probably were very active, and with their sharp teeth, could do a lot of damage.”

In their “Nature” paper, Coria and Salgado concluded Giganotosaurus was the largest theropod ever recorded from the Southern hemisphere, and that it was probably the world’s biggest predatory dinosaur. The fossil they investigated was up to 41 feet long head to tail. It was estimated that the Giganotosaurus example weighed between 6.6 and 8.8 tons.

Advancements concerning Giganotosaurus continued thereafter. A 1998 “GAIA” research paper authored by Coria and paleontologist Jorge Orlando Calvo presented the discovery of a new Giganotosaurus jawbone that was eight percent larger than the original specimen. The contribution reinforced the notion that Giganotosaurus, at up to 43 feet long, was indeed the largest theropod ever found.

With two mighty legs, Giganotosaurus walked upright and could have been a deft runner thanks to its pointed tail giving it added balance and turning precision. A 2001 “Acta Palaeontologica Polonica” research paper by R. Ernesto Blanco and Gerardo V. Mazzetta evidenced that Giganotosaurus could run up to 31.3 miles per hour.

Furthermore, a “Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology” research paper in 2007, titled, “My Theropod is Bigger Than Yours ... or Not: Estimating Body Size from Skull Length in Theropods,” by François Therrien and Donald M. Henderson, suggested Giganotosaurus could’ve amassed weight up to 15 tons.

The staggering dinosaur should not disappoint as a formidable source of villainy on the big screen. Director Colin Trevorrow revealed to Empire that when it comes to the Giganotosaurus appearing in "Jurassic World Dominion," he wanted "something that felt like the Joker. It just wants to watch the world burn."

“I think,” Dalla Vecchia said, “that the movie producers chose Giganotosaurus just to introduce a new large dinosaur in the Jurassic Park saga. Giganotosaurus has been chosen because it is large and indisputably carnivorous.”