Europasaurus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Europasaurus |
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Europasaurus
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holgeri
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Europasaurus was a special kind of sauropod dinosaur. Sauropods are usually huge, long-necked dinosaurs, but Europasaurus was much smaller than its relatives. It was a quadrupedal (meaning it walked on four legs) plant-eating dinosaur.
This dinosaur lived about 154 million years ago, during the Upper Jurassic period. Its fossils were found in northern Germany. Europasaurus is a great example of something called insular dwarfism. This means it probably became smaller over time because it lived on an island. On islands, there's often less food and space, so animals can evolve to be smaller. Europasaurus likely lived on an island in what was once the Lower Saxony basin.
Meet the Dwarf Dinosaur
Most small sauropod bones come from young dinosaurs. But Europasaurus was different. Scientists studied its bones and found that even the small ones belonged to adult dinosaurs. This means Europasaurus was a true dwarf species. It was one of the few sauropods that weighed less than five tons as an adult.
Scientists have found fossils from more than 11 different Europasaurus individuals. Their sizes range from about 1.7 meters (about 5.5 feet) to 6.2 meters (about 20 feet) long. These different sizes show the various growth stages, from young dinosaurs to fully grown adults. These small dinosaurs must have lived on one of the large islands that existed around the Lower Saxony basin long ago.
Island Dinosaurs: A Historical Discovery
A similar discovery happened in Transylvania (a region now part of Romania) in the early 1900s. A local noble, Franz Nopcsa, found dinosaur fossils on his land. He was very smart and realized that these dinosaurs might have lived on an island. He knew that dwarf elephants had lived on islands during the Ice Age, so he thought the same could be true for dinosaurs.
Sadly, Nopcsa's estate was destroyed during World War I. However, his amazing discovery was recorded and the dinosaur he found was named Magyarosaurus. This shows that Europasaurus wasn't the only dwarf sauropod to live on an ancient island!
Images for kids
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Preparation of the fossil bones
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Block with partially prepared bones of specimen DFMMh/FV 709
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Life restoration of Europasaurus in its habitat
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Reconstructed skull
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Teeth of the upper jaw
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Skulls of two dicraeosaurids in dorsal view, showing the placement of the parietal fenestra and the postparietal foramen
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Skull of Massospondylus with fenestrae labelled. The jugal is similar in form to that of Europasaurus
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Articulated neck-vertebrae of specimen DFMMh/FV 838
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Two back-vertebrae
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Back-vertebra in front view
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Skull compared to that of related Giraffatitan
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Lower jaws at various growth stages
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Reconstructed adult and juvenile skeletons; note humans for scale
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Late Jurassic terrestrial localities in Europe. '7' indicates the Langenberg Quarry
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Skeleton of coexisting Knoetschkesuchus
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Size comparison of the native torvosaur (blue) and arriving theropod (green)
See also
In Spanish: Europasaurus holgeri para niños
