Shantungosaurus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids ShantungosaurusTemporal range: Upper Cretaceous
70 mya |
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Shantungosaurus
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| Species: |
giganteus
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Shantungosaurus means "Shandong Lizard". It was a type of hadrosaur dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago. This was during the Upper Cretaceous period. Its fossils have been found in the Shandong Peninsula in China.
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Meet the Giant: Shantungosaurus Size
Shantungosaurus was the longest and largest hadrosaur ever discovered. Imagine a dinosaur as long as two school buses! A skeleton of a medium-sized Shantungosaurus on display in Beijing is about 14.72 meters (48.3 feet) long. Its skull alone was huge, measuring about 1.63 meters (5.3 feet) long.
How Big Was Shantungosaurus?
This amazing dinosaur could weigh up to 16 tons (about 35,000 pounds). That's like the weight of two large elephants! With some skeletons reaching 16.6 meters (54.5 feet) in length, Shantungosaurus was the biggest ornithischian dinosaur. This group includes plant-eating dinosaurs like Triceratops and Stegosaurus. It was also the largest dinosaur that wasn't a sauropod (the really long-necked dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus).
Shantungosaurus Body Features
Shantungosaurus had a very long tail. Scientists think this long tail helped it balance its heavy body, especially around its hips.
Like all hadrosaurs, it had a beak without teeth at the front of its mouth. But its jaws were full of tiny chewing teeth, about 1,500 of them! These teeth were perfect for grinding up plants.
It also had a large hole near its nostrils. Scientists believe this hole might have been covered by a loose flap of skin. Shantungosaurus could have inflated this flap to make loud sounds, perhaps to communicate with other dinosaurs.
Discovery and Fossils
Shantungosaurus was first described by scientists in 1973. We know about this dinosaur from at least five incomplete skeletons that have been found. These fossil discoveries help us understand how this giant creature lived millions of years ago.
Images for kids
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Restoration
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Sacrum once classified as Huaxiaosaurus
See also
In Spanish: Shantungosaurus giganteus para niños
