Saltasaurus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids SaltasaurusTemporal range: Upper Cretaceous
70 mya |
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Saltasauridae
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Saltasaurus
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Saltasaurus was a huge plant-eating dinosaur with a long neck. It had special bony plates on its body, like natural armor! This dinosaur was a type of sauropod called a titanosaur. Saltasaurus lived a very long time ago, about 83 to 79 million years ago. This was during the late Cretaceous period. Scientists have found its fossils in Argentina.
Saltasaurus was the first sauropod known to have armor made of bony plates. These small bony plates are called osteoderms. Modern crocodiles also have osteoderms. Since then, scientists have found these plates on other titanosaurs too.
Discovering Saltasaurus
Two paleontologists, José Bonaparte and Jamie Powell, named Saltasaurus in 1980. The name Saltasaurus comes from Salta Province in Argentina. This is where its fossils were first found.
Scientists found many interesting things. They discovered oval and round armor plates. They also found hundreds of tiny bumps, about 6 to 7 millimeters wide, that covered its back. Other fossil finds included parts of skeletons. These included bones from its spine (called vertebrae), leg bones, and parts of its jaw.
Images for kids
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A large osteoderm, a bony plate from its skin.
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An artist's idea of a Saltasaurus herd.
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Size comparison of Saltasaurus to a human.
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A fossilized Saltasaurus egg on display.
See also
In Spanish: Saltasaurus loricatus para niños
