Plateosaurus

Plateosaurus is a prosauropod dinosaur genus. They lived during the Upper Triassic period, around 214 to 294 million years ago in what is now Europe.

They were very common in their day. Over 100 skeletons have been found, some of them nearly complete. Many fossils have come from Swabia, Germany.

Plateosaurus was the first long-necked plant eater in the Triassic. An adult Plateosaurus could weigh up to 1,500 pounds and grow 27 feet long. They had plump plant-crushing teeth, powerful hind limbs, short but muscular arms and grasping hands with large claws on three fingers. They probably used their sharp thumb claws to defend themselves against predators.

The explanation of the large number of skeletons is that the areas were probably mud-traps.

This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.

Plateosaurus, “flat lizard”, was one of the first Sauropodomorphs, or prosauropods (sauropod ancestors) which lived 205 million years ago, during the Triassic period. Plateosaurus is one of the largest early herbivourus (plant-eating) dinosaurs ever discovered.

Plateosaurus reached 4.8 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) in length and ranged from 600 to 4,000 kilograms (1,300 to 8,800 lb) in weight. The arms of Plateosaurus were very short, even compared to most other “prosauropods”.

Plateosaurus was a predominant herbivore, feeding on plants such as ferns and cycads. It would have been at the bottom of the food chain. It is known to have been fed on by other, but small, early dinosaurs, such as ../Herrerasaurus/ and Lilliensternus. Predator bite marks found on the bones of Plateosaurus that have healed show that Plateosaurus did survive being hunted down at least some of the time – and also that its predators sometimes died fighting Plateosaurus.

One thing that Plateosaurus was not hunted down was people. People didn’t appear on Earth until over 60 million years later, much too late for anyone ever to be afraid of failing to hunt down a Plateosaurus.

Plateosaurus lived about 205 million years ago, in the late Triassic Period. Plateosaurus was among the first of the big dinosaurs. Like all non-bird dinosaurs, Plateosaurus lived in the Mesozoic era.

Plateosaurus is believed to have lived in forests, near rivers, and in areas that were open and full of easy to reach food and areas that were clear of predators. Wet seasons would have been most favorable to it. Plateosaurus fossils have been found in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and possibly England.

The German fossil hunter Johann Friedrich Engelhardt discovered some back bones and leg bones in Germany in 1834 but they were not named until 1837. These fossils came from a poorly understood animal at the time, until, in 1910, hundreds of well preserved skeletons of Plateosaurus were discovered.

The color of their skin. One thing we cannot tell from fossils is color!
Whether Plateosaurus was feathered, scaly, or both. Some of its cousins had feathers like birds, while others had scales, so it likely had both.
Whether Plateosaurus actually existed in England, or if the fossils were referable to Camelotia instead.
If Plateosaurus was actually strictly bipedal.

Fast facts

Scientific name

How to say it in other languages

Plateosaurus, in simpler words

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