Dino card No. 0582 of 2,027

Emausaurus

Say it: em-ow-SORE-us

Name means: “EMAU (Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität) lizard”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosEarly Jurassic

Emausaurus was an early armoured dinosaur that lived in what is now Germany. It had bony plates and spikes on its back and tail to protect itself from predators. This little dinosaur probably munched on low-growing plants like cycads and ferns.2 1

Lived

184 to 183 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

Grimmen clay pit, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany3 2

Food

Plants2

Length

2 to 4 m2 1

The holotype is a juvenile or subadult about 2 to 2.5 m long; adults may have reached 3 to 4 m

Weight

50 kg to 240 kg2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 bicycles in a rowas long as 22 bananas end to endas heavy as 8 big dogsas heavy as 48 watermelons

How big was Emausaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Emausaurus is named after the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, where the fossil was studied.2

Its body was covered in bony plates called osteoderms, including three cone-shaped scutes and one tall, spiny element.2

Scientists think Emausaurus could walk on two legs or four legs, but the only skeleton is too incomplete to be sure.2

The only known fossil is a partial skull, lower jaw, some back bones, a forearm bone, a foot bone, a claw, ribs, and armour plates.2

Emausaurus lived about 183 million years ago, during the Early Jurassic period.3 2

It shared its environment with fish, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, crocodile-like reptiles, and even other dinosaurs like early sauropods.2

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

?How big was Emausaurus?

About 2 to 4 metres long. A young one weighed 50 to 90 kg, and an adult could weigh up to 240 kg.2 1

?What did Emausaurus eat?

It was an herbivore that ate low-growing plants like cycads and ferns.2 1

?When did Emausaurus live?

It lived during the Early Jurassic period, about 183 million years ago.2 1

?Where was Emausaurus found?

Its fossils were found in a clay pit near Grimmen, in northern Germany.2

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Myth buster

Myth: Emausaurus was a large, slow-moving dinosaur like Ankylosaurus.

Truth: Emausaurus was much smaller (only 2 to 4 m long) and may have been able to run on two legs when young.2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Emausaurus
Named by: Haubold 19903
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Scelidosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 184 to 183 million years (Toarcian)3
Countries: Germany3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: The fossil was found in 1963 by foreman Werner Wollin at a clay pit near Grimmen, Germany. It was named and described by Hartmut Haubold in 1990.2 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Emausaurus was more closely related to Scutellosaurus or to Scelidosaurus, and whether it walked on two legs or four.2

Where the facts come from

Emausaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Emausaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Emausaurus 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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