Name:
Monkonosaurus (Greek for "Monko lizard"); pronounced MON-koh-no-SORE-us
Habitat:
Woodlands of central Asia
Historical Period:
Late Jurassic (150 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 16 feet long and one ton
Diet:
Plants
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Medium size; plates along back
About Monkonosaurus:
Not a whole lot is known about Monkonosaurus, which is represented in the fossil record by two vertebrae and a few dorsal plates. The first dinosaur ever to be discovered in Tibet, Monkonosaurus was clearly a variety of stegosaur, though beyond that the details are a bit sketchy (and some paleontologists speculate that its remains may yet be assigned to another genus). By the way, at the time Monkonosaurus lived, 150 million years ago, Tibet wasn’t the high, cold, remote plateau it is today, but a temperate region right next to the sea.
