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Zarafasaura

Say it: zah-RAH-fah-SORE-us

Name means: “giraffe lizard of the sea”1

Ate: MeatPlesiosaursLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Zarafasaura was a plesiosaur, a marine reptile that swam in the warm seas of the Late Cretaceous. It was a small elasmosaur, about as long as a car, and it used its long neck to snap up fish and squid.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco1

Food

Meat2

Length

3 to 4 m1

Weight

90 kg to 110 kg1

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 4 big dogs

as long as 4 dogs nose to tailas long as 22 bananas end to endas heavy as 22 watermelons

How big was Zarafasaura compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Zarafasaura means 'giraffe lizard' in Arabic, because local people thought the long-necked fossils looked like giraffes.1

It was a small plesiosaur, only about 3 to 4 metres long, much smaller than its giant cousins like Elasmosaurus.1

The first fossil of Zarafasaura was just a skull and jaw, found in phosphate mines in Morocco.1

In 2013, a more complete skeleton was discovered, showing its flippers and backbone for the first time.1

Zarafasaura lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, right at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs.2

A specimen of Zarafasaura was almost sold at auction in Paris for €450,000, but the sale was stopped and it was sent back to Morocco.1

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

?Was Zarafasaura a dinosaur?

No, Zarafasaura was a plesiosaur, a marine reptile that lived in the sea, not a dinosaur.1

?How big was Zarafasaura?

About 3 to 4 metres long and weighed roughly 100 kilograms, about the size of a large dog.1

?What did Zarafasaura eat?

It likely ate fish and squid, using its long neck to snap them up in the warm Cretaceous seas.1

?Where was Zarafasaura found?

Its fossils were discovered in phosphate mines in the Ouled Abdoun Basin of Morocco, North Africa.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Zarafasaura
Named by: Vincent et al. 20113
Group: Plesiosaurs
Family / clade: Elasmosauridae3
Classification: Plesiosauria > Elasmosauridae > Sauropterygia3
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Couche III3
Countries: Morocco3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Zarafasaura was named in 2011 by a team of scientists led by Peggy Vincent. The first fossil, a skull and jaw, was found in the phosphate mines of the Ouled Abdoun Basin in Morocco.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Zarafasaura is related to other plesiosaurs, and whether it had any special features in its flippers or body.1

Where the facts come from

Zarafasaura (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Zarafasaura 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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