Gyposaurus

The name Gyposaurus means 'vulture lizard' because scientists once thought early long-necked dinosaurs were meat-eaters.1

The first Gyposaurus fossils were found in South Africa and named by Robert Broom in 1911.1

Some scientists think the Chinese species 'Gyposaurus sinensis' is actually a young Lufengosaurus, not a separate dinosaur.2

The fossils of 'Gyposaurus sinensis' were found in the Lufeng Formation in Yunnan, China, in the same area as Lufengosaurus.2

The bones of 'Gyposaurus sinensis' show that the animals were not fully grown when they died, with unfused vertebrae.2

Gyposaurus lived during the Early Jurassic, about 196 to 189 million years ago.1