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Haolong

Say it: HOW-long DONG-ee

Name means: “spiny dragon”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersEarly Cretaceous

Haolong was a plant-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs and had a long tail. It had special spikes on its skin that looked a bit like porcupine quills, which might have scared away hungry predators.1 2

Lived

126 to 121 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Yixian Formation, Liaoning Province, China1 2

Food

Plants4 1

Length

2.45 m1

juvenile 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 5 house cats nose to tailas long as 14 bananas end to end

How big was Haolong compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Haolong's skin had large overlapping scales on its tail and smaller bumpy scales around its neck and chest.2

The spikes on Haolong were hollow and made of keratin, the same stuff as your fingernails.2

Scientists could see the preserved nuclei of skin cells in Haolong's spikes under a microscope.2

Haolong's spikes were different from the feathers of meat-eating dinosaurs and the spines of modern lizards.1 2

The only known Haolong skeleton is nearly complete and still connected together, which is very rare.1 2

Haolong lived about 125 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period.4 1

The spikes might have helped Haolong stay cool or feel its surroundings, not just defend itself.1 2

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

?How big was Haolong?

About 2.45 metres (8 feet) long. That is about the size of a small motorcycle.1

?Did Haolong have feathers?

No. Its skin had scales and hollow spikes made of keratin, not feathers.1 2

?What did Haolong eat?

It was a plant-eater, so it ate leaves and other plants.3

?When did Haolong live?

About 125 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.1

?Where was Haolong found?

In Liaoning Province, northeastern China, in the Yixian Formation.1

?Why did Haolong have spikes?

Mostly to scare away predators, like a porcupine. They might also have helped with cooling or sensing touch.1 2

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Myth buster

Myth: Haolong was a spiky dinosaur like a Stegosaurus.

Truth: Haolong's spikes were made of keratin and were hollow, not bony plates. They were more like porcupine quills than the plates of Stegosaurus.1 2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Haolong
Named by: Huang et al. 20264
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Hadrosauroidea4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
Age of the rocks: 126 to 121 million years (Barremian)4
Rock formations: Yixian4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Haolong was named in 2026 by a team of scientists led by J. Huang. The name honors the famous Chinese paleontologist Dong Zhiming.1 4
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if adult Haolong also had spikes, because the only known fossil is a juvenile.1

Where the facts come from

Haolong (en.wikipedia.org)
Cellular-level preservation of cutaneous spikes in an Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur | Nature Ecology & Evolution (nature.com)
A dinosaur with spikes exhibiting unprecedented properties discovered in China | CNRS (cnrs.fr)
Haolong 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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