Shunosaurus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived about 170 million years ago. The name means \"shu lizard\" and derives from \"Shu\", an ancient name for Sichuan province. It lived in the Middle Jurassic of China when sauropods became the most common eaters of medium and large plants. In 1977, a group of student paleontology practitioners discovered the first fossil of Shunosaurus during a roadside excavation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was known to be the first sauropod with an exposed tail club. The tail club was small and had two spikes at the tip. It had long legs compared to the body size. It had a short neck indicating that Shunosaurus was a short forager. It was a primitive sauropod of intermediate size. It had scoop-shaped teeth that helped it to forage on coarse plant material. It shared the environment with the sauropods Datousaurus and Omeisaurus, the small ornithopod Xiaosaurus, the stegosaur Huayangosaurus and the theropod Gasosaurus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shunosaurus estimated the length at 9.5 meters and weighed three metric tons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n