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Name: Compsognathus
Pronunciation: KOMP-sog-NAH-thus Translation: Pretty Jaw Diet: Carnivore Height: 1 Foot ( .3 Meter) Length: 3 feet (1 meter) Weight: 8 Pounds (3.6 kg.) Location: Germany and France Time: Jurassic Period |
Compsognathus is often described as “the size of a chicken”. This description is based on an almost complete skeletal specimen discovered in Germany in the 1850s.
Over 100 years later, a second skeleton fossil was found in France in the 1970s, and showed its size slightly larger, more adequately compared to “the size of a turkey”. Some scientists explain the size difference by the belief that the first skeleton found in Germany might have been that of a juvenile. Either way, Compsognathus is surely one of the smallest carnivores of the Jurassic Period.
It is also one of the few dinosaurs for which the diet is known with certainty: the remains of small, agile lizards are preserved in the stomach of each of those two Compsognathus’ specimens.
Compsognathus is the closest supposed relative of the early bird Archaeopteryx.
Over 100 years later, a second skeleton fossil was found in France in the 1970s, and showed its size slightly larger, more adequately compared to “the size of a turkey”. Some scientists explain the size difference by the belief that the first skeleton found in Germany might have been that of a juvenile. Either way, Compsognathus is surely one of the smallest carnivores of the Jurassic Period.
It is also one of the few dinosaurs for which the diet is known with certainty: the remains of small, agile lizards are preserved in the stomach of each of those two Compsognathus’ specimens.
Compsognathus is the closest supposed relative of the early bird Archaeopteryx.