Mussaurus Characteristics

Mussaurus measured 26 feet (7.9 metres) in length, 10 feet (3 metres) in height and weighed 1,814 kilograms (4,000 pounds). It was a bipedal dinosaur and walked on 2 strong hind legs although it could also walk on all fours. Mussaurus had a large body, a long neck and a long, pointed tail that would have been used as a counter-balance. Its snout was long and its head was quite small but it had large eye sockets. Its hind legs were slightly longer than the fore legs. Its legs and hands were equipped with 5 clawed fingers with a large thumb claw. Mussaurus had leaf-shaped or spoon-like teeth.

Mussaurus was a herbivore and ate huge amount of plant materiral. It probably reared up on its 2 hind legs to reach high growing vegetation such as cycads and conifers. Its sharp teeth would have been able to strip leaves off branches. Mussaurus probably ate gastroliths (small pebbles) to aid digestion of tough vegetation. The stones would help grind up the food in the dinosaurs stomach.

Musaurus intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was the lowest among the dinosaurs. Mussaurus had little means of defence and when threatened by large, carnivorous predators, with sharper claws and teeth, its best chance was to run away.

The fossils were first discovered by an expedition led by Jose Bonaparte during the 1970s to the El Tranquilo Formation, Argentina. There the team found fossilised eggs and hatchlings, which added insight into the reproductive strategies of Mussaurus and other prosauropod dinosaurs.

The skeleton of Mussaurus infants was small, only 6 inches long excluding the tail, but a total of 9 to 15 inches (18 to 37 centimetres)long. This is about the size of a small lizard. Juveniles differed from adults in proportion in addition to size and mass. As is common for dinosaurs, juvenile Mussaurus had tall skulls with short snouts and large eyes. No adult Mussaurus fossils have been unearthed. Mussaurus was named by paleontologists José Bonaparte and Martin Vince in 1979. The type species is M. patagonicus.