Hypsilophodon
Hypsilophodon foxii
Pronounced: hype - Sy - low - foe - don
Diet: Herbivore(plant-eater)
Name Means: Hypsilophus Tooth
Length: 8 ft. (2.5 m)
Height: 3 ft. (1 m)
Weight: 55 lb. (25 kilos)
Time: Jurassic/Cretaceous - 155 MYA
Fossil remains for this Dinosaur have been found in Europe,
North America
This little dinosaur, known from very early European finds, may have been
one of the most common of all the plant-eaters. In addition to Europe,
Hypsilophodon has also been found in North America and possibly Asia.
Hypsilophodon was a small, quick plant-eater, which probably ran in small
herds much like modern deer. It ran on two legs and may have used its arms
to grab the plants it would have eaten. It looked very much like the first
dinosaurs, although it had acquired a number of improvements over tens of
millions of years of evolution.
Considered a basal member of the Iguanodon
s, Hypsilophodon is known from several complete skeletons and a number of
partial skeletons. It was a very early dinosaur discovery, found in a quarry
in 1849 by stone workers. At first it was thought to have been well suited
to live in trees, but this theory, which persisted for over 100 years, was
discounted by later study of the specimens. |
