Leaellynasaura Characteristics

Leaellynasaura measured around 6 - 10 feet (2 - 3 metres) in length and was 2 feet (60 centimetres) tall at the hip. It weighed 10 kilograms (25 pounds). It had a relatively large brain and good eyesight. Leaellynasaura had strong hind limbs and was a bipedal, fast runner. Its forelimbs were short and clawed and it had strong jaws.

Leaellynasaura was first discovered in Dinosaur Cove, Australia. Strangely enough, at this period in time, Victoria would have been well within the Antarctic Circle, which is now very cold. This means that Leaellynasaura was living and apparently thriving much further south than any reptile could today. This is particularly relevant due to Cryolophosaurus being discovered in Antarctica, therefore, further suggesting the idea that dinosaurs could live under conditions which were once thought unsuitable for their kind.

It is possible that the sun would not have risen for several weeks or months in the winter, depending on latitude, which means that Leaellynasaura would have had to live in the dark for perhaps months at a time. This is particularly relevant to the fact that Leaellynosaura had very large eyes and its brain had large optic lobes, as if it had evolved to be routinely active in the dark. Regardless, the fact that it lived in extremely cold temperatures led many scientists to believe that Leallynasaura was warm-blooded.

Leaellynasaura was a herbivorous dinosaur. It had a tough beak and many self-sharpening cheek teeth. It may have eaten cycads, ferns, horsetails and conifers.

No complete skeletons have been found of Leaellynasaura. The genus is known from many isolated limb bones, ribs, vertebrae, jaws, teeth and one partial skull.

Leaellynasaura was described in 1989. It was named after Leaellyn Rich, the daughter of the palaeontologist couple Tom Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich who discovered it.

The type species is Leaellynasaura amicagraphica. It was described in 1989. It was named after Leaellyn Rich, the daughter of the palaeontologist couple Tom Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich who discovered it. Leaellynasaura was initially regarded as an hypsilophodont, however this classification has since been challenged. It is, however, unquestionably a rather basal ornithopod. Like all ornithopods, it was a herbivore.

Leaellynasaura appeared on the fifth episode of Walking with Dinosaurs.