Dinosaurs 101

The Shonisaurus

This aquatic beast lived over 250 million years ago during the late Triassic period. The Shonisaurus grew to be about 50 feet long and over 40 tons! It was part of the the Ichthyosaur family and had a long narrow nose and long fins. The Shonisaurus was first discovered in 1920 in Nevada and British Columbia and has since been excavated. These fossils can been seen at the Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. It grew to be this size mainly because of it's protein rich diet of sea creatures smaller than itself. 

Dinosuars 101

 

The smallest dinosaur out there was the Saltopus. A bipedal dinosaur that only grew to be about 30-40 inches long. They lived during the late Triassic Period in Scotland. The Saltopus was discovered by William Taylor and named by Freidrich von Huene in 1910. Freidrich came up with the name Saltopus from the Latin word saltare meaning to jump and the Greek word pous meaning foot. It would only be the size of a domestic cat and because the Saltopus had hollow bones, it would have only weighed about two pounds. Pretty small for a dinosaur, but this little guy was still a vicious carnivore. It would probably be fun to have a pet Saltopus running around the house though.