Dino card No. 0941 of 2,027

Kamuysaurus

Say it: KAM-oo-SORE-us

Name means: “deity reptile in the Ainu language of Japan”1

Ate: PlantsDuck-billsLate Cretaceous

Kamuysaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur that lived in what is now Japan. It had a flat, toothless beak and hundreds of cheek teeth for chewing plants. This dinosaur is one of the most complete skeletons ever found in Japan.1 2

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Hokkaido, Japan, in marine rocks of the Hakobuchi Formation1 2

Food

Plants3

Length

8 to 9 m2

estimate based on the nearly complete skeleton

Weight

4 tonnes to 5 tonnes2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 3 cars

as long as 2 cars parked in a rowas long as 50 bananas end to endabout as heavy as an elephantas heavy as 1000 watermelons

How big was Kamuysaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Kamuysaurus was found in marine rocks, meaning its body washed into the sea after death.1 2

The skeleton is over 60% complete and includes the skull, making it one of the most complete dinosaur skeletons from Japan.1

It lived about 72 to 70 million years ago during the early Maastrichtian age.1

Kamuysaurus belongs to a group of duck-billed dinosaurs called Edmontosaurini, which also includes Edmontosaurus.2

The dinosaur was named after the Ainu word 'kamuy', meaning deity or god.1

It was an adult at least nine years old when it died.1

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

?How big was Kamuysaurus?

It was about 8 metres long and weighed 4 to 5.3 tonnes.1

?What did Kamuysaurus eat?

It was a plant-eater. It had a toothless beak and rows of cheek teeth for chewing tough plants.1

?When did Kamuysaurus live?

It lived about 72 to 70 million years ago, during the early Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous.1

?Was Kamuysaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, it was a duck-billed dinosaur called a hadrosaur, but it was not a meat-eater.1

?Did Kamuysaurus have a crest?

It may have had a small, flat crest on its head, similar to the crest of Brachylophosaurus.2 4

?Where was Kamuysaurus found?

It was found in marine rocks in Hokkaido, Japan. Its body likely washed out to sea after it died.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Kamuysaurus
Named by: Kobayashi et al. 20195
Group: Duck-bills
Family / clade: Hadrosauridae5
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia > Hadrosauridae5
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)5
Rock formations: Hakobuchi5
Countries: Japan5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Amateur paleontologist Yoshiyuki Horita found the tail in 2003. Teams from the Hobetsu Museum and Hokkaido University Museum dug up the rest of the skeleton in 2013 and 2014. It was named Kamuysaurus japonicus in 2019 by Yoshitsugu Kobayashi and colleagues.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Kamuysaurus had a small crest on its head, because the bones at the front of the skull are missing.2

Where the facts come from

Kamuysaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A New Hadrosaurine (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from the Marine Deposits of the Late Cretaceous Hakobuchi Formation, Yezo Group, Japan | Scientific Reports (nature.com)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
A new duck-billed dinosaur, Kamuysaurus japonicus, identified | Hokkaido University (global.hokudai.ac.jp)
Kamuysaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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