Patagosaurus Characteristics

Patagosaurus measured 60 feet (18 metres) in length, 20 feet (6 metres) in height and weighed around 20 tons. Similar to other primitive sauropods, it was heavily built and similar to Cetiosaurus (Whale Lizard) in appearance but its hips and vertebrae were different. Patagosaurus had a very long neck which looked like a very thick trunk and a long, heavy tail. Its head was small and it had many cheek teeth for grinding plant material. It was quadrupedal and walked in all 4 thick legs.

Patagosaurus was a herbivore and ate plants. Its enemies were the theropod dinosaurs. Piatnitzkysaurus, a theropod found at the same time and in the same location as Patagosaurus and Volkheimeria, was feirce carnivore and as large as Allosaurus and a menace to most herbivore dinosaurs.

A Patagosaurus skeleton was found in Patagonia, Argentina, in rocks about 15 million years older than those where the North American sauropods were found. Patagosaurus is known from a nearly complete skeleton, except for the skull.

Patagosaurus was described by Jose Bonaparte in 1979.