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Noasaurus

Say it: NOH-ah-SORE-us

Name means: “reptile from north-western Argentina”1

Ate: MeatMeat-eating dinosLate Cretaceous

Noasaurus was a small, speedy meat-eater that lived in Argentina near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. It had a strongly curved claw on each hand that it may have used like a hook to catch fish or other small animals. Noasaurus was about as long as a bicycle and probably hunted in the warm forests of South America.1

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

El Brete fossil site, Salta Province, northwestern Argentina3 1

Food

Meat1

Length

2 m1

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 4 house cats nose to tailas long as 11 bananas end to end

How big was Noasaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Noasaurus was named after the region where it was found: NOA stands for 'Noroeste Argentino', which means northwestern Argentina in Spanish.1

The only known skeleton of Noasaurus was discovered in 1975 by a team led by famous Argentine paleontologist José Fernando Bonaparte.2

Noasaurus lived about 71 to 69 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1

Its hand claw had a special V-shaped ridge and a triangular pit on the underside, which helped it grip prey.1

Noasaurus was a ceratosaur, a group of mostly meat-eating dinosaurs that lived mainly in the southern continents.2 1

It shared its home with the huge, armored titanosaur Saltasaurus and several kinds of primitive birds.1

The environment where Noasaurus lived was warm and humid, with tropical forests and many ferns and conifers.1

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

?How big was Noasaurus?

Noasaurus was a small theropod, about 1.6 to 2 metres long, which is roughly the length of a bicycle.2 1

?What did Noasaurus eat?

Noasaurus was a meat-eater that likely fed on small vertebrates, including fish. It may have used its curved hand claws to hook fish out of the water.2 1

?Did Noasaurus have feathers?

The sources do not mention feathers on Noasaurus. As a ceratosaur, it is not known to have had feathers.2

?When did Noasaurus live?

Noasaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 71 to 69 million years ago.2

?Where was Noasaurus found?

Noasaurus was discovered in the Lecho Formation of Salta Province in northwestern Argentina.2 1

?Was Noasaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, Noasaurus was a small theropod dinosaur, a type of meat-eating dinosaur.2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Noasaurus
Named by: Bonaparte and Powell 19803
Group: Meat-eating dinos
Family / clade: Noasauridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Ceratosauria3
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Lecho3
Countries: Argentina3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Noasaurus was named by José Fernando Bonaparte and his student Jaime Powell in 1980. The fossils were found in 1975 at the El Brete site in Salta, Argentina, and included parts of the skull, spine, and a distinctive hand claw.2 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Noasaurus used its curved hand claws mainly for catching fish or for grabbing other small prey. Some studies suggest it was a piscivore (fish-eater), while others think it was a generalist carnivore.1

Where the facts come from

Osteology, relationship, and feeding ecology of the theropod dinosaur Noasaurus lealiBonaparte and Powell, 1980, from the Late Cretaceous of North-Western Argentina | Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | Oxford Academic (academic.oup.com)
Noasaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Noasaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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