Proa

Say it: PROH-uh

Name means: “prow, because its beak bone looked like a ship's prow”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersEarly Cretaceous

Proa was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 112 million years ago in what is now Spain. It had a pointed beak and walked on two legs, but could probably also drop to all fours. It was a relative of the bigger duck-billed dinosaurs.1 2

Lived

113 to 110 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils were found in Teruel Province, Spain, in the Escucha Formation.1 2

Food

Plants2

Length

5.5 to 6.5 m3

estimated adult body length

Weight

500 kg to 1 tonnes3

estimated adult weight

Height

1.5 to 2 m3

hip height estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

hip height estimate

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 33 big dogs

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 36 bananas end to endas heavy as 200 watermelonsabout as tall as a door

How big was Proa compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Proa's beak bone had a pointed tip with side prongs that stuck out, which is unique among its relatives.1

It lived during the Early Cretaceous, about 112 million years ago, which was a time when many new dinosaur groups were appearing.1

Proa is known from at least three partial skeletons and several skull pieces, so scientists have a good idea of what it looked like.1

It was a basal iguanodont, meaning it was an early relative of the bigger iguanodons and duck-billed dinosaurs.3

Proa helps fill a gap in the fossil record of European iguanodonts, which was missing for millions of years.3

AI-made picture of Proa — An AI-made picture of how Proa 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.

Ask Rex about Proa

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: Proa
Named by: McDonald et al. 20124
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Hadrosauriformes4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
Age of the rocks: 113 to 110 million years (Albian)4
Rock formations: Escucha4
Countries: Spain4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Proa was named by Andrew T. McDonald and colleagues in 2012, based on fossils from coal mines near Val de Ariño in Spain.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly where Proa sits on the dinosaur family tree, with some placing it close to Iguanodon and others with Asian relatives.1

Where the facts come from

Proa valdearinnoensis (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
An unusual new basal iguanodont (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Teruel, Spain | Zootaxa (mapress.com)
Proa 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