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Pendraig

Say it: PEN-drayg

Name means: “chief dragon”1

Ate: MeatMeat-eating dinosLate Triassic

Pendraig was a tiny meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Wales over 200 million years ago. It was one of the oldest meat-eating dinosaurs ever found in the UK, and it was small enough to fit in your arms!1

Lived

237 to 227 million years ago6

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry in southern Wales, UK6 1

Food

Meat2

Length

1 m3 4

estimated total body length

Weight

1.6 kg4

estimated body weight

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 13 bananas

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to endlighter than a house catas heavy as 13 bananas

How big was Pendraig compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Pendraig is the oldest-known meat-eating dinosaur found in the UK, living about 200 million years ago.1

Its name means 'chief dragon' in Welsh, and it was named after Angela Milner, a famous scientist at the Natural History Museum.1

Pendraig was very small, with a femur (thigh bone) estimated to be only about 10 centimetres long.2

It lived on islands, and scientists think it might have shrunk in size because of limited food and space, a process called island miniaturisation.1

The fossils were found in a quarry in the 1950s, but scientists only realised it was a new species in 2021.1

Pendraig was a coelophysoid, a group of slender, long-snouted carnivorous dinosaurs that lived in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic.1

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

?How big was Pendraig?

About 1 metre (3.3 feet) long, small enough to fit in your arms. Its thigh bone was only about 10 centimetres long.3 1

?What did Pendraig eat?

It was a meat-eater. Scientists think it ate other small animals, because its relatives had sharp, serrated teeth for eating meat.2

?Why was Pendraig so small?

It lived on islands, and animals on islands sometimes get smaller because there is less food and space. This is called island miniaturisation, but scientists aren't completely sure.1 3

?When did Pendraig live?

It lived over 200 million years ago, during the Late Triassic period.1 5

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Pendraig was a baby of a larger dinosaur, but scientists aren't sure.

Truth: The small size might be because the bones are from a juvenile, but it could also be a genuinely small species. Scientists can't confirm if it was a baby or a small adult.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Pendraig
Named by: Spiekman et al. 20216
Group: Meat-eating dinos
Family / clade: Coelophysoidea6
Classification: Theropoda > Coelophysoidea6
Age of the rocks: 237 to 227 million years (Carnian)6
Countries: United Kingdom6
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database6
Discovery: The bones were found in 1952 at Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry in Wales, but they were not studied in detail until later. In 2021, scientists named it Pendraig milnerae, honouring Angela Milner.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating whether Pendraig was small because it was a juvenile or because of island dwarfism, and they also debate the exact age of the rocks where it was found.2

Where the facts come from

New species is oldest meat-eating dinosaur found in UK (nhm.ac.uk)
royalsocietypublishing.org (royalsocietypublishing.org)
Pendraig (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
Pendraig milnerae | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
'Chief dragon' is UK's oldest meat-eating dinosaur (bbc.com)
Pendraig in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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