Austrosaurus facts for kids

Austrosaurus means "Southern lizard." It was a type of dinosaur called a sauropod. Sauropods were very large plant-eating dinosaurs. Austrosaurus lived in Australia about 105 to 110 million years ago. This was during the early Cretaceous period. Its fossils were found in Queensland, Australia.

Discovery of Austrosaurus

The first bones of Austrosaurus were found in 1932. A person named Mr. H.B. Wade discovered them. This happened on a place called Clutha Station in Queensland, Australia. He told the station manager, H. Mackillop, about the discovery. The bones were then sent to the Queensland Museum. In 1933, a scientist named Heber Longman officially described and named the dinosaur.

What Austrosaurus Was Like

Scientists once thought that huge sauropods like Austrosaurus spent a lot of time in water. They believed the water helped support their heavy bodies. However, this idea is no longer believed. Today, most scientists think that Austrosaurus and other sauropods lived on dry land.

Fossils show that Austrosaurus was a very tall dinosaur. It was about 3.9 meters (12.8 feet) high at its hips. At its shoulders, it was about 4.1 meters (13.5 feet) tall. This means its back was almost flat. One expert, Gregory S. Paul, estimated that Austrosaurus was about 20 meters (65.6 feet) long. He also thought it weighed around 16,000 kilograms (35,274 pounds). That's as heavy as about three large elephants!

How Austrosaurus is Classified

When Austrosaurus was first studied, scientists thought it was related to dinosaurs like Cetiosaurus. Later, new discoveries changed how scientists classified it.

In 2009, some scientists described a new sauropod called Wintonotitan. They found that some bones first thought to be from Austrosaurus actually belonged to Wintonotitan. This made it harder to be sure about Austrosaurus. Some scientists even called Austrosaurus a nomen dubium. This Latin term means "doubtful name." It is used when there isn't enough clear fossil evidence to define a species.

However, more recently, in 2017, new fossils were found. These new bones were from the same area as the original Austrosaurus discovery. Scientists studied them and found that Austrosaurus is a valid dinosaur. They now think it was a type of titanosaurian dinosaur. Titanosaurs were a group of very large sauropods.

See also

In Spanish: Austrosaurus mckillopi para niños