# Carnotaurus sastrei

> A horned abelisaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, with two bull-like horns above the eyes, tiny arms and the best-known skin of any large theropod.

- Classification: Dinosauria (clade) > Saurischia (clade) > Theropoda (clade) > Neotheropoda (clade) > Ceratosauria (clade) > Abelisauridae (family) > Carnotaurus (genus) > Carnotaurus sastrei (species)
- Length: 7.5–8 m
- Hip height: 2.3–2.7 m
- Mass: 1.3–2.1 t
- Age: 83.6–66 million years ago (Late Cretaceous)
- Fossils found in: La Colonia Formation (Chubut Province); Argentina
- Diet: carnivore
- Described: José F. Bonaparte, 1985
- In films: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

Canonical page: https://dinodex.club/dinosaurs/carnotaurus-sastrei
Last updated: 2026-09-27

## Overview

Carnotaurus sastrei lived in Patagonia, Argentina, near the end of the Cretaceous. José Bonaparte found its single known skeleton in 1984 in the La Colonia Formation of Chubut Province and named it in 1985.

It had a short, deep skull with a pair of thick horns above the eyes, and arms even more reduced than those of T. rex, with stubby forearms. The skeleton was found with large areas of skin impressions: rows of big conical bumps among small scales, and no sign of feathers (Hendrickx & Bell 2021).

Its tail had very large muscle attachments, and Persons and Currie (2011) argued it was one of the fastest large theropods in a straight line, though not agile in turns. How it used its horns, and how it hunted, remain open questions.

## Name meaning

From Latin carnis ("flesh") and taurus ("bull"): "meat-eating bull", for its horns; sastrei honours Ángel Sastre, owner of the ranch where it was found (Bonaparte 1985).

## Sources

1. Bonaparte, J. F. (1985). A horned Cretaceous carnosaur from Patagonia. National Geographic Research 1(1): 149-151.
2. Bonaparte, J. F., Novas, F. E. & Coria, R. A. (1990). Carnotaurus sastrei Bonaparte, the horned, lightly built carnosaur from the Middle Cretaceous of Patagonia. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Contributions in Science 416: 1-42.
3. Cohen, K. M., Harper, D. A. T., Gibbard, P. L. & Car, N. (2023). International Chronostratigraphic Chart (v2023/09). International Commission on Stratigraphy. https://stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2023-09.pdf
4. Hendrickx, C. & Bell, P. R. (2021). The scaly skin of the abelisaurid Carnotaurus sastrei (Theropoda: Ceratosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia. Cretaceous Research 128: 104994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104994
5. Mazzetta, G. V., Cisilino, A. P., Blanco, R. E. & Calvo, N. (2009). Cranial mechanics and functional interpretation of the horned carnivorous dinosaur Carnotaurus sastrei. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(3): 822-830. https://doi.org/10.1671/039.029.0313
6. Paul, G. S. (2016). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (2nd edition). Princeton University Press.
7. Persons, W. S. & Currie, P. J. (2011). Dinosaur speed demon: the caudal musculature of Carnotaurus sastrei and implications for the evolution of South American abelisaurids. PLoS ONE 6(10): e25763. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025763

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Cite as: "Carnotaurus sastrei". DinoDex. https://dinodex.club/dinosaurs/carnotaurus-sastrei (updated 2026-09-27).