A small dinosaur species has recently been excavated in northern Germany.
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Model of the tiny dinosaur. (Photo: BBC) |
This creature belongs to the sauropod group—long-necked, four-legged dinosaurs that are the largest in the dinosaur world.
However, with a length of just a few meters, this animal is significantly smaller than its relatives. The research team believes that this Jurassic creature evolved to be smaller in size to adapt to the scarcity of food on the island.
Martin Sander from the University of Bonn and his colleagues studied the remains of 11 sauropods found in a quarry in Oker, Lower Saxony.
With a total body length ranging from 1.7 to 6.2 meters, the team initially thought these dinosaurs were adolescents. However, upon thorough examination of the fossils, they realized these were tiny creatures.
The group has been named Europasaurus holgeri—Holger’s lizard of Europe. The name is in honor of Holger Luedtke, a paleontologist who discovered the first bone in 1998.
In terms of height, E. holgeri stands as tall as a horse’s shoulder, while other larger sauropods can be bigger than buses, measuring several dozen meters in length and weighing over 100 tons.
The fossils of this creature were found in a late Jurassic rock formation (150 million years old). At that time, much of central Europe was submerged underwater. Sander suggests that these dinosaurs lived on one of the large islands around the Lower Saxony basin.
“Such islands could not possibly provide enough sustenance for the gigantic sauropods,” Sander noted.
M.T.
