Dino Wiki / All dinos / Beaked plant-eaters

Dino card No. 1233 of 2,027

Nanningosaurus

Say it: nan-NING-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Nanning lizard, named after the city of Nanning in China”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersLate Cretaceous

Nanningosaurus was a big plant-eating dinosaur with a beak like a duck. It lived in southern China during the Late Cretaceous period, about 72 to 66 million years ago. It was one of the first duck-billed dinosaurs found in that part of the world.1 2

Lived

100 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Nalong Basin, Guangxi, southern China1 2

Food

Plants3 1

Length

up to 7.5 m1

estimated by Gregory S. Paul in 2010

Weight

up to 2.5 tonnes1

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 1.5 cars

as long as 8 dogs nose to tailas long as 42 bananas end to endas heavy as 83 big dogsas heavy as 500 watermelons

How big was Nanningosaurus compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Nanningosaurus had a tall, sharply peaked bone in its upper jaw, which is a unique feature among duck-billed dinosaurs.2

It had relatively few teeth compared to other hadrosaurs, with only about 27 tooth positions in its upper jaw.1

Its upper arm bone was slender and had a low, rounded crest, which is different from many other hadrosaurs.2

The fossil skeleton was found in 1991, together with the bones of another dinosaur called Qingxiusaurus.1

Nanningosaurus was the first hadrosauroid dinosaur ever named from southern China.1 2

Scientists think Nanningosaurus may have lived in groups, based on the way its bones were found.3

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

?How big was Nanningosaurus?

Nanningosaurus was about 7.5 metres (25 feet) long and weighed around 2.5 tonnes (2.8 short tons). That is roughly as long as a big bus.1

?What did Nanningosaurus eat?

It was a plant-eater. Its duck-like beak helped it clip leaves and stems, and it had about 27 tooth positions in its upper jaw to grind food.1

?When did Nanningosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 72 to 66 million years ago. That was near the very end of the age of dinosaurs.4

?Where was Nanningosaurus found?

Its fossil was discovered in southern China, in the Nalong Basin near the city of Nanning in Guangxi. It was the first duck-billed dinosaur named from southern China.1

Ask Rex about Nanningosaurus

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.

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think all duck-billed dinosaurs lived in North America.

Truth: Nanningosaurus shows that duck-billed dinosaurs also lived in Asia, specifically in southern China.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Nanningosaurus
Named by: Mo et al. 20074
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Hadrosauroidea4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
Age of the rocks: 100 to 66 million years (Cenomanian / Maastrichtian)4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The fossil was found in 1991 in the Nalong Basin, Guangxi, China. It was named Nanningosaurus dashiensis by Mo Jinyou and colleagues in 2007.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly where Nanningosaurus belongs in the duck-billed dinosaur family tree. Some studies say it is a basal lambeosaurine, but the support is weak.1

Where the facts come from

Nanningosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
The First Hadrosaurid Dinosaur from Southern China (onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Nanningosaurus 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