Dino card No. 1395 of 2,027

Patagosaurus

Say it: PAT-ah-go-SORE-us

Name means: “Patagonia lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Jurassic to Middle Jurassic

Patagosaurus was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived in what is now Argentina about 178 million years ago. It walked on all four legs and had a tiny head, a very long tail, and a body as heavy as two elephants.1

Lived

183 to 169 million years ago4

Early Jurassic to Middle Jurassic

Fossils found in

Chubut Province, Argentina (Cañadón Asfalto Formation)1 2

Food

Plants1 2

Length

15 to 18 m1 3

estimates vary; 15 m (49 ft) to 18 m (59 ft)

Weight

7.88 tonnes to 9.44 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 6 cars

as long as 4 cars parked in a rowas long as 100 bananas end to endas heavy as 1.5 elephantsas heavy as 1900 watermelons

How big was Patagosaurus compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Patagosaurus is known from many fossils, including a nearly complete skeleton and a juvenile. This helps scientists understand how it grew.1

It lived alongside other dinosaurs like Piatnitzkysaurus, Condorraptor, and Volkheimeria.1

Patagosaurus had a different tooth shape from other plant-eaters that lived with it. This means they probably ate different plants and did not compete for food.1

The first fossils were found in the 1970s on a farm near Cerro Cóndor, Argentina. The dinosaur was named in 1979 by paleontologist José Bonaparte.1

The environment where Patagosaurus lived had a salty lake and nearby volcanoes, similar to parts of modern Kenya and New Zealand.1

Patagosaurus is classified as a eusauropod, a group that includes many of the largest long-necked dinosaurs.1

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

?How big was Patagosaurus?

Patagosaurus was about 16.5 metres (54 feet) long and weighed around 7.88 tonnes (8.7 short tons). That is about as heavy as one to two elephants.1

?What did Patagosaurus eat?

Patagosaurus was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. Its teeth were shaped differently from other plant-eaters that lived with it, so it probably ate different kinds of plants.1 3

?When did Patagosaurus live?

Patagosaurus lived about 178 million years ago, during the Middle Toarcian stage of the Jurassic Period.1

?Where was Patagosaurus found?

Patagosaurus was found in Patagonia, Argentina, in the Cañadón Asfalto Formation. The first fossils were discovered in the 1970s on a farm near Cerro Cóndor.1

Ask Rex about Patagosaurus

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.

For dino experts

Scientific name: Patagosaurus
Named by: Bonaparte 19794
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Cetiosauridae4
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda4
Age of the rocks: 183 to 169 million years (Toarcian / Bajocian)4
Rock formations: Cañadón Asfalto4
Countries: Argentina4
Fossil records: 4 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Patagosaurus was named by José Bonaparte in 1979. The first fossils were found in a pebbly layer near a road to Cerro Cóndor, Argentina, on land owned by Ricardo Farias, who the species is named after.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if all the fossils assigned to Patagosaurus really belong to it. Some may be from a different, still unnamed dinosaur.1

Where the facts come from

Patagosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Patagosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Patagosaurus 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