Plateosaurus Characteristics

Plateosaurus measured 33 feet (10 metres) in length and weighed around 4 tons. It had a bulky body with a pear shaped thrunk and a long, flexible neck composed of 10 cervical vertebrae. The skull of Plateosaurus was deeper than that of a Coelophysis, although still small and narrow compared to the size of its body. It had a long snout and sharp, serrated teeth that were leaf-shaped crowns suitable for crushing plant material and its eyes were directed to the sides, rather than the front, providing all-round vision to watch for predators. Plateosaurus had a flexible tail composed of at least 40 caudal vertebrae.

Plateosaurus had forelimbs which were much shorter than their powerful hind limbs and they had distinct fingers and a spiked thumb. This suggests that, while its mass suggests it was mainly quadrupedal, it may have been able to rear up on its hind legs. The forelimbs may have been used to rake trees for food, for grasping or for defence. The metabolism of Plateosaurus may have been intermediate between a reptilian and warm-blooded one.

Plateosaurus was a herbivore and ate plant material such as conifers and cycads. Its sharp teeth let it tear these tough leaves from the plants. Plateosaurus, swallowed gastroliths (gizzard stones) to help digest food. These gizzard stones (gastroliths) would help grind up the food in the stomach.

Plateosaurus may have congregated in herds and may have migrated seasonally across the arid European landscape.

Commonly, these dinosaurs lived for 10 to 25 years. Plateosaurus was a sauropodomorpha, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was the lowest among the dinosaurs.

Plateosaurus is now among the best known dinosaurs, with over 100 skeletons found, some of them nearly complete. Many fossils of these dinosaurs have been found throughout Europe and several species have been identified. The abundance of Plateosaurus fossils at some localities has prompted the suggestion that they lived in herds and even that they migrated to avoid seasonal droughts.

It was first described (and named) by the German paleontologist Hermann von Meyer in 1837.