Ancient Dinosaurs
        Ancient Dinosaurs
 
     

Ancient Dinosaurs


Muttaburrasaurus



MuttaburrasaurusMuttaburrasaurus (pronunciation: mutt-ah-BUHR-ah-SAWR-us) which gained its name from a partial skeletal remain found by the Thompson River in Muttaburra, Queensland, Australia.  It was believed to live during the middle Cretaceous period around 112-104 million years ago. 

They were herbivore which means they only eat plants such as cycads, ferns, and conifers.  To assist with this, they had very powerful jaws especially equipped with shearing teeth.  From the skeletal remains, Muttaburrasaurus had an enlarged bony bump on its snout between its eyes and mouth that was hollow.  It was believed that it might have been used to produce distinctive calls, for display purposes or even associated with it sense of smell.  The real purpose is still a puzzle as there has been no fossilized nasal tissue found in the remains.  

Muttaburrasaurus 2Muttaburrasaurus was about 7-9 meters long and could weight ranging from 1-4 tons.  They were are large four-legged dinosaur that was capable of rearing onto two legs.  It had a claw the thumb with three middle fingers joined together to form a hoof-like pad.