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Europasaurus

By , About.com Guide

Europasaurus (Wikimedia Commons)

Name:

Europasaurus (Greek for "European lizard"); pronounced your-ROPE-ah-SORE-us

Habitat:

Plains of western Europe

Historical Period:

Late Jurassic (155-150 million years ago)

Size and Weight:

About 15 feet long and 3 tons

Diet:

Plants

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Unusually small size for a sauropod; ridge on snout

About Europasaurus:

Just as not all sauropods had long necks (witness the short-necked Brachytrachelopan), not all sauropods were the size of houses. When its numerous fossils were discovered in Germany a few years ago, paleontologists were astonished to learn that Europasaurus wasn't much bigger than a large ox.

Why was Europasaurus so small? We may never know for sure, but analysis has shown that this dinosaur grew more slowly than other sauropods--so an unusually long-lived Europasaurus might have reached a respectable height (though it would still have seemed puny next to a Brachiosaurus). It's clear that Europasaurus evolved from larger sauropod ancestors, so perhaps its small size was an evolutionary adaptation to the limited resources of its ecosystem.

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