Chilesaurus
Chilesaurus was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in Chile about 150 million years ago. It had a beak like a bird and teeth shaped like leaves for slicing plants. Scientists were surprised to find that it was a plant-eater because its body looked a lot like a meat-eater's.2
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Fun facts
Chilesaurus was first discovered by a seven-year-old boy named Diego Suárez in 2004. The species name 'diegosuarezi' honors him.2
It had a beak at the front of its mouth, similar to a bird's beak, which it used to crop plants.1
Chilesaurus walked on two legs and had a long tail to help it balance.2
Its hips looked like those of a bird-hipped dinosaur, such as Stegosaurus or Triceratops, even though its body was built like a meat-eater.2
Scientists think Chilesaurus is a 'missing link' between meat-eating dinosaurs and early plant-eaters.2
Chilesaurus lived during the Late Jurassic Period, about 150 million years ago.2
Most asked questions about Chilesaurus
?How big was Chilesaurus?
About 3.2 metres (10.5 feet) long as an adult, and a young one was about 1.6 metres (5.2 feet) long.3
?What did Chilesaurus eat?
It was a plant-eater. Its spatula-shaped teeth were good for slicing leaves and foliage.32
?Who discovered Chilesaurus?
A seven-year-old boy named Diego Suárez discovered the first fossils in 2004 in Chile. The species name honors him.23
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Myth buster
Myth: Chilesaurus was a meat-eating dinosaur because it had a body like a theropod.
Truth: Chilesaurus was actually a plant-eater. Its teeth and jaws were adapted for slicing plants, not meat.2
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Chilesaurus
- Named by
- Novas et al. 20155
- Group
- Beaked plant-eaters
- Family / clade
- Ornithischia5
- Classification
- Ornithischia5
- Age of the rocks
- 149 to 143 million years (Tithonian)5
- Rock formations
- Toqui5
- Countries
- Chile5
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- The first fossils were found in 2004 by seven-year-old Diego Suárez in Chile. The dinosaur was named and described by a team of scientists in 2015.2
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate exactly where Chilesaurus fits on the dinosaur family tree. Some think it is a very early plant-eating dinosaur, while others see it as a strange meat-eater that changed its diet.2
Where the facts come from
- nature14307 331..340 (ri.conicet.gov.ar)
- Dinosaur Q&A: What was Chilesaurus diegosuarezi? | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Chilesaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- A dinosaur missing-link? Chilesaurus and the early evolution of ornithischian dinosaurs (royalsocietypublishing.org)
- Chilesaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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