Dino card No. 1523 of 2,027

Quaesitosaurus

Say it: kwee-siet-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “extraordinary lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Cretaceous

Quaesitosaurus was a huge, long-necked plant-eater that lived in what is now Mongolia. Its skull was long and low, a bit like a horse's head, and it had peg-like teeth at the front of its mouth. Scientists only know it from a skull and jaw, so they guess what the rest of its body looked like.2 1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Shar Tsav, Mongolia2 5

Food

Plants2 1

Length

12 to 23 m2 1

estimate based on relatives

Weight

up to 7 tonnes3

estimate

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 5 cars

as long as 5 cars parked in a rowas long as 130 bananas end to endabout as heavy as an elephantas heavy as 1400 watermelons

How big was Quaesitosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Quaesitosaurus is known only from a skull and a nearly complete lower jaw. No bones from the rest of its body have been found.2

Its skull looks a lot like the skull of Diplodocus, so scientists think its body might have been similar too, with a long neck and tail.2

The name Quaesitosaurus means 'extraordinary lizard' because its skull was so unusual.2 1

Quaesitosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 72 to 71 million years ago.2

It is a type of titanosaur, a group of huge, long-necked sauropods.2

The skull of Quaesitosaurus has pits on the front square bone, which helps tell it apart from its close relative Nemegtosaurus.2

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

?How big was Quaesitosaurus?

Scientists estimate it was about 12 metres (39 feet) long, based on its relatives. The Natural History Museum gives a length of 23 metres (75 feet), so the exact size is not certain.2 1

?What did Quaesitosaurus eat?

It was a plant-eater (herbivore) that ate soft plants like ferns, horsetails, and club mosses. Its peg-like teeth were good for stripping leaves.4

?When did Quaesitosaurus live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 72 to 71 million years ago. Some sources say 86 to 84 million years ago, so the dates are not exact.2 1

?Is Quaesitosaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, it is a dinosaur. It is a type of sauropod called a titanosaur.2 1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Quaesitosaurus
Named by: Kurzanov and Bannikov 19835
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Nemegtosauridae5
Classification: Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda > Titanosauria > Macronaria5
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
Rock formations: Baruungoyot5
Countries: Mongolia5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: In 1971, a team from the Soviet-Mongolian expedition found the skull and jaw at Shar Tsav in Mongolia. Scientists Kurzanov and Bannikov named it Quaesitosaurus orientalis in 1983.2 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Quaesitosaurus is actually the same animal as Nemegtosaurus, because both are known only from skulls and look very similar.2

Where the facts come from

Quaesitosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Quaesitosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
QUAESITOSAURUS - DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
Quaesitosaurus - ZoomDinosaurs.com (enchantedlearning.com)
Quaesitosaurus 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.

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