Eustreptospondylus Characteristics

Eustreptospondylus is thought to have measured between 23 - 30 feet (7-9 metres) long and around 10 - 12 feet (3 metres) tall at the hips. It weighed around 500 kilograms. Eustreptospondylus was a bipedal dinosaur who had a stiff tail and was a typical theropod, with powerful hind limbs, erect posture and small forelimbs. It had powerful jaws and sharp teeth. Eustreptospondylu was a carnivorous dinosaur and scavenged for sharks, jellyfish, turtles and stranded reptiles.

Eustreptospondylus was featured in episode 3 of BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs, 'Cruel Sea'. One is eaten by a Liopleurodon while fishing. At the end of the episode, two adult Eustreptospondylus eat a beached and dying Liopleurodon. The episode also portrayed Eustreptospondylus as being able to swim short distances in shallow water.

Only one fossilised specimen of Eustreptospondylus has been found in a quarry north of Oxford, England. The skeleton was found in marine clays so it was probably a carcass that had drifted out to sea. Despite the limited fossil remains it is clear that Eustreptospondylus was a bipedal, carnivorous, theropod dinosaur, related to the line that ultimately gave rise to Tyrannosaurus.

Eustreptospondylus was described originally by Sir Richard Owen, in 1841, as a new species of Megalosaurus. It was named E. Oxoniensis by Walker in 1964.