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Bravasaurus

Say it: BRAH-vah-SORE-us

Name means: “Laguna Brava lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Bravasaurus was a small, long-necked plant eater that lived in what is now Argentina. It was a titanosaur, a group of huge sauropods, but Bravasaurus was one of the smallest of its family. It walked on four sturdy legs and munched on leaves with its peg-like teeth.1 4

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Quebrada de Santo Domingo in La Rioja, northwestern Argentina2 4

Food

Plants4 2

Length

7 m3

Weight

2.89 tonnes2 3

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2 cars

as long as 7 dogs nose to tailas long as 39 bananas end to endas heavy as 96 big dogsas heavy as 580 watermelons

How big was Bravasaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Bravasaurus is one of the smallest titanosaurs ever found. Scientists think it weighed about 3 tons, much less than giants like Argentinosaurus.2

Its name comes from Laguna Brava, a lake in Argentina, and 'arrierosorum' honors the people who crossed the Andes with cattle in the 1800s.1

Fossils of Bravasaurus were found in rocks that are between 83.6 and 66 million years old, from the Late Cretaceous period.4

The place where Bravasaurus was found, Quebrada de Santo Domingo, is one of the largest dinosaur nesting sites in the world. Scientists found many titanosaur eggs there.2

Bravasaurus had a slender fibula, a bone in the lower leg, which is unusual for a sauropod. Its fibula was very thin compared to its length.2

Unlike some dwarf titanosaurs that lived on islands, Bravasaurus lived inland, far from the sea.2

AI-made picture of Bravasaurus — An AI-made picture of how Bravasaurus 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 Bravasaurus

?How big was Bravasaurus?

About 7 metres long and weighed nearly 2.9 metric tons. It was one of the smallest titanosaurs.3 1

?What did Bravasaurus eat?

It was a plant eater. It had peg-like teeth for munching on leaves.3

?When did Bravasaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, between about 83.6 and 66 million years ago.3 2

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Myth buster

Myth: All sauropods were gigantic, like Argentinosaurus.

Truth: Not all sauropods were huge. Bravasaurus was a small titanosaur, weighing only about 3 tons, which is small compared to its giant relatives.2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Bravasaurus
Named by: Hechenleitner et al. 20204
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Rinconsauria4
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Ciénaga del Río Huaco4
Countries: Argentina4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Bravasaurus was named in 2020 by Hechenleitner and colleagues. They found its fossils in the Ciénaga del Río Huaco Formation in La Rioja, Argentina.4 2
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Bravasaurus is related to other titanosaurs. Some studies suggest it is closely related to species from Patagonia and Brazil, but the exact family tree is not fully agreed upon.2

Where the facts come from

Two Late Cretaceous sauropods reveal titanosaurian dispersal across South America - PMC (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Two Late Cretaceous sauropods reveal titanosaurian dispersal across South America | Communications Biology (preview-www.nature.com)
Bravasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Bravasaurus 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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