Dino card No. 0238 of 2,027

Baptanodon

Say it: bap-TAN-oh-don

Name means: “toothless swimmer”1

Ate: MeatIchthyosaursMiddle Jurassic to Late JurassicNot technically a dinosaur

Baptanodon was a dolphin-shaped marine reptile that swam in the warm Jurassic seas. It had a long snout and big eyes to hunt squid and fish. Even though its name means 'toothless', scientists later found tiny teeth in its jaws.1 2

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

168 to 155 million years ago3

Middle Jurassic to Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Wyoming, USA1 3

Food

Meat1 3

Length

3.5 m1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 4 dogs nose to tailas long as 19 bananas end to end

How big was Baptanodon compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Baptanodon lived about 160 to 156 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic period.1

Its body was shaped like a dolphin, about 3.5 metres (11 feet) long, and it used its tail to swim fast.1

For many years scientists thought Baptanodon had no teeth, but in 1902 Charles Gilmore found tiny teeth in its jaws.2

Baptanodon was first named Sauranodon in 1879, but that name was already used for another animal, so it was changed to Baptanodon in 1880.1

Fossils of Baptanodon come from the Sundance Formation in Wyoming, which was once a shallow sea.1

Baptanodon is part of the ophthalmosaurid family, a group of ichthyosaurs with very large eyes.1 3

AI-made picture of Baptanodon — An AI-made picture of how Baptanodon might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Baptanodon

?Was Baptanodon a dinosaur?

No, Baptanodon was an ichthyosaur, a marine reptile that lived in the sea, not a dinosaur.1

?How big was Baptanodon?

About 3.5 metres (11 feet) long, roughly the size of a small dolphin.1

?Did Baptanodon have teeth?

Yes, even though its name means 'toothless', scientists later discovered tiny teeth in its jaws in 1902.1 2

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Myth buster

Myth: Baptanodon had no teeth at all.

Truth: Scientists originally thought it was toothless, but later discovered small teeth in its jaws.1 2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Baptanodon
Named by: Seeley 18743
Group: Ichthyosaurs
Family / clade: Ophthalmosauridae3
Classification: Ichthyosauria > Ichthyosauromorpha3
Age of the rocks: 168 to 155 million years (Bathonian / Oxfordian)3
Rock formations: Sundance3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Sauranodon (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Baptanodon was first described by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879 under the name Sauranodon. In 1880, Marsh renamed it Baptanodon because Sauranodon was already taken.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Baptanodon is a separate genus from Ophthalmosaurus or just a species of that group.1

Where the facts come from

Baptanodon (en.wikipedia.org)
Discovery of Teeth in Baptanodon , An Ichthyosaurian from the Jurassic of Wyoming (science.org)
Baptanodon in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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