Xiangyunloong
Xiangyunloong was a big, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It had a short neck but a very long and strong tail, which helped it balance its heavy body. This dinosaur shows that not all early long-necked dinosaurs had long necks!2
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as long as 2 cars parked in a row🍌as long as 56 bananas end to end🏃could run 100 metres in 16 seconds (the fastest human needs 9.6)How big was Xiangyunloong compared to YOU?
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Fun facts
Xiangyunloong had a short neck but a very long and powerful tail, which is unusual for early sauropodomorphs.2
Its tail was so strong that it could act as a counterbalance, helping the dinosaur stand on two legs to feed.2
Scientists think Xiangyunloong represents an early stage of gigantism, or getting very big, in sauropodomorphs.2
Xiangyunloong lived about 200 million years ago during the Early Jurassic period.4
The fossil of Xiangyunloong was found about 200 kilometers west of the famous Lufeng dinosaur fossil sites in China.2
Xiangyunloong is known from a partial skeleton that includes neck bones, back bones, tail bones, and hip bones.2
Most asked questions about Xiangyunloong
?How big was Xiangyunloong?
About 9 to 10 metres long, making it one of the largest early sauropodomorph dinosaurs from China.12
?Did Xiangyunloong have a long neck?
No, it had a short neck, which is unusual for early sauropodomorphs. Instead, it had a very long and strong tail.23
?What did Xiangyunloong eat?
It was a plant eating dinosaur, like other sauropodomorphs.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Many people think all early sauropodomorphs had long necks like later sauropods.
Truth: Xiangyunloong had a short neck and a long, strong tail, showing that early sauropodomorphs had different body shapes.2
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Xiangyunloong
- Named by
- Hu et al. 20264
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Massopoda4
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha4
- Age of the rocks
- 201 to 175 million years (Hettangian / Toarcian)4
- Rock formations
- Fengjiahe4
- Countries
- China4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Xiangyunloong was named in 2026 by Hu and colleagues based on a partial skeleton found in the Fengjiahe Formation in Yunnan, China.2
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating whether Xiangyunloong represents a new evolutionary path where the tail, not the neck, became long and strong.2
Where the facts come from
- Xiangyunloong (en.wikipedia.org)
- A new sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Fengjiahe Formation of Dali of Yunnan Province, China | Royal Society Open Science | The Royal Society (royalsocietypublishing.org)
- Early Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Unearthed in China | Sci.News (sci.news)
- Xiangyunloong in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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