Acrocanthosaurus was a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Lower Cretaceous period. Its name means "high-spined lizard". This refers to the spines on its vertebrae which formed a sail or hump when the animal was alive.
its classification is uncertain. It was originally classified as a spinosaur, because the spines on its back looked like those of Spinosaurus. However, Acrocanthosaurus is now classified as a carnosaur. Most paleontologists believe that it was a carcharodontosaurid.
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Acrocanthosaurus (/ˌækroʊˌkænθəˈsɔːrəs/ ak-ro-KAN-thə-SAWR-əs; meaning "high-spined lizard"), A. atokensis. Its fossil remains are found mainly in the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, although teeth attributed to Acrocanthosaurus have been found as far east as Maryland, suggesting a continent wide range.
Size When fully grown, Acrocanthosaurus measured over 36-40 feet(11-12 meters) in length, stood over 13 feet(4 meters) tall, and would have weighed 3-5 tons. Although smaller than Tyrannosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus was still among the biggest theropods ever to walk North America. And it's mass was smaller then t.rex but it's mass was 13,000 - 14,000 lbs still pretty huge
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bite Force It was capable of biting with a force of 35586 N (8000 pounds of force), which is a force similar to the weight of three small cars, or two medium-sized ones!
Body structure The most notable feature of Acrocanthosaurus was its row of tall neural spines, located on the vertebrae of the neck, back, hips and upper tail, which could be more than 2.5 times the height of the vertebrae from which they extended. Other dinosaurs also had high spines on the back, sometimes much higher than those of Acrocanthosaurus. For instance, the unrelated Spinosaurus had spines nearly 2 m (6.6 ft) tall, about 11 times taller than the bodies of its vertebrae. The lower spines of Acrocanthosaurus had attachments for powerful muscles like those of modern bison, probably forming a tall, thick ridge down its back. The function of the spines remains unknown, although they may have been involved in communication, fat storage, muscle or temperature control. All of its cervical (neck) and dorsal (back) vertebrae had prominent depressions (pleurocoels) on the sides, while the caudal (tail) vertebrae bore smaller ones. This is more similar to carcharodontosaurids than to Allosaurus
