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Chinshakiangosaurus

Say it: JIN-shah-jiahng-uh-SOR-us

Name means: “Chinshakiang lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Jurassic

Chinshakiangosaurus was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived in China during the Early Jurassic. It is one of the earliest sauropods, the group that includes giants like Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus.1

Lived

201 to 200 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

Yunnan Province, China1 3

Food

Plants1

Length

12 to 13 m1 2

estimate based on the only known specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 3 cars parked in a rowas long as 72 bananas end to end

How big was Chinshakiangosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Chinshakiangosaurus is one of the few early sauropods with preserved skull bones, which helps scientists understand how sauropods evolved.1

Its lower jaw was curved into a U-shape, like later sauropods, but unlike the V-shaped jaws of earlier prosauropods.1

Scientists think Chinshakiangosaurus may have had fleshy cheeks, a feature that helped it hold food while chewing.1 2

The only known fossil includes a left lower jaw, neck and back vertebrae, shoulder blades, hip bones, and hind legs.1

The name was first used in 1975 but was not properly described until 1992, so for many years it was just a name without a description.1

Chinshakiangosaurus lived about 200 million years ago, during the Hettangian stage of the Early Jurassic.3

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

?How big was Chinshakiangosaurus?

About 12 to 13 meters long. That is roughly the length of a large city bus.1 2

?What did Chinshakiangosaurus eat?

It was an herbivore (plant-eater). Its broad U-shaped snout and blunt teeth helped it eat large amounts of leaves and other plants.1

?Did Chinshakiangosaurus have feathers?

There is no evidence that Chinshakiangosaurus had feathers. Sauropods like this one are not known to have feathers.1

?Is Chinshakiangosaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, it is a dinosaur. It is a basal sauropod, a type of long-necked plant-eating dinosaur.1 3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Chinshakiangosaurus
Named by: Yeh 19753
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Sauropoda3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda3
Age of the rocks: 201 to 200 million years (Hettangian)3
Rock formations: Fengjiahe3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The fossils were found in 1970 by Zhao Xijin and his team in Yongren County, Yunnan, China. The name was first used by Yeh in 1975, but the official description was published by Dong Zhiming in 1992.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Chinshakiangosaurus is related to other early sauropods, because most of its skeleton has not been studied in detail yet.1

Where the facts come from

Chinshakiangosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A re-evaluation of Chinshakiangosaurus chunghoensis Ye ... (ivpp.cas.cn)
Chinshakiangosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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