Hobbies And Interests
Small Carnivorous Dinosaurs
Coelophysis was a late Triassic dinosaur whose fossil remains have been found in Connecticut and New Mexico. It possibly weighed less than 50 lbs and had a long, narrow head full of blade like teeth. There were four fingers on its hand, but only three were strong enough to seize its prey. Procompsognathus was a 4-foot creature that live in what is now Germany. It ate small lizards and insects and had five fingers on each hand. Later dinosaurs had fewer fingers and toes.
Larger Carnivorous Dinosaurs
Teratosaurus was a 20-foot long, late Triassic animal with a heavy head and curved sharp teeth. Its body was sturdy, and likely used the three clawed toes on each foot to rip flesh from its prey. It looked very much like the Tyrannosaurus Rex from the Cretaceous period. Erythrosuchus lived in South Africa. It could grow up to 16-feet long, which made it the largest land predator during the early and mid-Triassic period. It had powerful jaws full of sharp teeth. Its legs were held directly beneath its body, which made it an agile hunter.
Small Herbivorous Dinosaurs
Efraasia, a member of the Anchisauridae family of the infraorder prosauropoda, lived in Germany in the late Triassic. It topped out at about 8 feet long, walked upright and had multipurpose hands. It had long fingers to grasp leaves and plants, and wrist that allowed it to walk on all fours. Thecodontosaurus was was 7 feet long and lived in England and southern Africa during the late Triassic. It had a small head, a flexible neck, and a long slim body and tail. It ate ferns, horsetails, conifers and cycads.
Large Herbivorous Dinosaurs
Plateosaurus lived in what's now England, France, Germany and Switzerland in the late stages of the Triassic. It was 23 feet long and its tail made up half of its length. Its teeth were blunt to chew soft vegetation. Though plateosaurus usually walked on all fours, it could rear up and stretch its long neck to browse on plants like cycads. Riojasaurus lived in the late Triassic period in what is now Argentina. It had the long neck and long tail of later sauropods and could be up to 33 feet long. Far more massive than plateosaurus, riojasaurus had to walk on four legs to support its weight.