Dino Wiki / All dinos / Beaked plant-eaters

Dino card No. 0580 of 2,027

Elrhazosaurus

Say it: el-RAZ-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Elrhaz lizard”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersEarly Cretaceous

Elrhazosaurus was a small, speedy plant-eater that ran on two legs in what is now the Sahara Desert. It lived about 115 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.1

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Niger (Agadez), in the Ténéré Desert1 2

Food

Plants1 2

Length

2 to 3 m1

estimated based on related dryosaurids

Weight

20 kg to 50 kg1

Height

0.8 to 1.2 m1

at the hips

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the hips

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 12 house cats

as long as 3 dogs nose to tailas long as 17 bananas end to endas heavy as 10 watermelonsup to the handle of a door

How big was Elrhazosaurus compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Elrhazosaurus is known from only a few bones, including a left thigh bone and an upper arm bone.1

It was first thought to be a species of Valdosaurus, a dinosaur from Europe, but scientists later gave it its own genus in 2009.1

Elrhazosaurus lived alongside giant crocodile relatives like Sarcosuchus and huge dinosaurs like the sauropod Nigersaurus.1

As a dryosaurid, Elrhazosaurus was a fast runner, built like a small, lightweight ostrich.1

The name Elrhazosaurus comes from the Elrhaz Formation in Niger, where its fossils were found.1

Its thigh bone has a deep pit near the top, a feature that helps scientists identify it as a dryosaurid.2

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

?What did Elrhazosaurus eat?

Elrhazosaurus was a plant-eater, or herbivore, as shown by its beaked mouth and its classification as an ornithischian dinosaur. It likely fed on low-growing plants in its Early Cretaceous environment.1 3

?How big was Elrhazosaurus?

Scientists do not know its exact size because only a few bones have been found. Most sources call it a small, lightly built runner, likely reaching about 2 to 3 metres in length.4

?Could Elrhazosaurus run fast?

Yes, as a dryosaurid iguanodontian, Elrhazosaurus was a lightly built herbivorous bipedal runner, built like a small, lightweight ostrich. Its long legs and slim build suggest it could run quickly to escape predators.1 3

?When did Elrhazosaurus live?

Elrhazosaurus lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 115 million years ago, in the late Aptian stage. The Paleobiology Database gives an age range of about 121 to 113 million years ago.1 4

Ask Rex about Elrhazosaurus

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

For dino experts

Scientific name: Elrhazosaurus
Named by: Galton 20094
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Dryosauridae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)4
Rock formations: Elrhaz4
Countries: Niger4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The first fossils were collected by French paleontologist Philippe Taquet in the Ténéré Desert of Niger. In 1982, Peter Galton and Taquet named it Valdosaurus nigeriensis, but in 2009 Galton moved it to its own genus, Elrhazosaurus.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how big Elrhazosaurus was, because only a few bones have been found.1

Where the facts come from

Elrhazosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
ELRHAZOSAURUS : DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
Elrhazosaurus 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.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex