Ammosaurus

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Quick Facts
Name	Ammosaurus
Diet	Herbivore
Weight	70 kg
Length	5 meters
Height	4 meters
Period	Early Jurassic

Ammosaurus was a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived in the Early Jurassic period of North America. The name means "sand lizard" which was found in Connecticut, Arizona, USA. In 1891, it was named by paleontologist O. Marsh.

Ammosaurus had a long neck and tail. It was an omnivorous dinosaur and could move on both two and four feet which allowed it to reach higher branches. It stood on its hind legs to defend itself by slashing at predators with its large thumb claws on its front legs. It had large claws on its hands that it used to remove bark from trees and saplings.

The Ammosaurus was estimated to be over 4.3 m long, about 1.8 m tall and weighed 27 kg.

What did the Ammosaurus eat?

Ammosaurus was an omnivorous dinosaur that ate both plants and meat.

What does Ammosaurus mean?

The name Ammosaurus means "sand lizard" and was found in Connecticut, Arizona, USA. In 1891, it was named by paleontologist O. Marsh.

How does the Ammosaurus defend itself?

Ammosaurus stood on its hind legs to defend itself by slashing at predators with its large thumb claws on its front legs.

Where did they live?

When did they live?

What was your diet?

Who discovered them?

What kind of dinosaurs are they?

What type of species are they?

How are they classified?

References

Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 164
Weishampel, D.B. & Young, L.O. 1996. Dinosaurs of the East Coast. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 275 pp.
Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., Osmólska, H. (eds.) (2004). The Dinosauria, Second Edition. University of California Press. 861 pp.
Galton, P.M. 1971. The prosauropod dinosaur Ammosaurusthe crocodile Postosuchusand their bearing on the age of the Navajo Sandstone of Northeastern Arizona. Journal of Palaeontology 45: 781-795.
Galton, P.M. & Upchurch, P. 2004. Prosauropoda. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P, & Osmolska, H. (Eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd Edition). Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 232-258.
Shubin, N.H., Olson, P.E., & Sues, H.-D. 1994. Early Jurassic small tetrapods from the McCoy Brook Formation of Nova Scotia, Canada. In: Fraser, N.C. & Sues, H.-D. (Eds.). In the Shadow of Dinosaurs: Early Mesozoic Tetrapods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 244-250.
Fedak, T. J. (2007). Description and evolutionary significance of the sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the early Jurassic (Hettangian) McCoy Brook Formation. Ph.D. dissertation. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Dalhousie University.
Marsh, O.C. 1889. Notice of new American dinosaurs. American Journal of Science Series 3, 37: 331-336.
Marsh, O.C. 1891. Notice of new vertebrate fossils. American Journal of Science Series 3, 42: 265-269.
Yates, A.M. & Kitching, J.W. 2003. The earliest known sauropod dinosaur and the first steps towards sauropod locomotion. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 270: 1753-1758.
Yates, A. M. 2004. Anchisaurus polyzelus (Hitchcock): the smallest known sauropod dinosaur and the evolution of gigantism among sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Postilla 230: 1-58.
Sereno, P. C. The evolution of dinosaurs. Science 284:2137-2147. (26)

Fun Facts

Ammosaurus was a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur.
It was an omnivorous dinosaur.
It could move on two or four feet.
It had large claws on its hands that used to tear the bark off trees and saplings.