Happy Dinosaur Day: Eocarcharia is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now North Africa during the Aptian and Albian stages of the early cretaceous period some 125 to 112 mya. The holotype specimen of eocarcharia consisting of a partial skull was uncovered in the year 2000 during an expedition to the Elrhaz formation led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. These remains where found alongside the remains of an abelisaurid named Kryptops. Yet in wouldn’t be until 2008 that the animal would be formally named and described by Dr. Sereno and Dr. Brusatte. Since then some additional post cranial remains have been recovered/ reassigned from other genuses. The type and only species is Eocarcharia dinops which roughly translates to dawn shark with fierce eyes, with the specific name being in reference to the fact that Eocarcharia’s brow is swollen into a massive band of bone, giving it a menacing glare. Reaching roughly 19 to 26ft (6-8m) in length and 2,200 to 4,400lbs (1,000 to 2,000kgs) in weight, Eocarcharia would have been one of the largest predators of its environment. Likely using its sharp blade like teeth to dispatch various prey in the form of the sauropods, ornithopods, crocodiliomorphs, and smaller theropods it shared its environment with.