Sinosauropteryx was a small carnivore (meat-eater) dinosaur that lived in
China during the early
Cretaceous period,
between about 125 and 122 million years ago.
Sinosauropteryx was about 3¼ to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters) long - most of its length
being taken up by its extremely long tail. It is estimated to have weighed around 5½ pounds (2.5 kilograms).
Fossils of
Sinosauropteryx show had a covering of what look like down-like feathers.
The usual interpretation is that these are indeed primitive feathers with a
very simple structure, however an alternative interpretation has also been
proposed - that they are the remains of collagen fibers. It has been noted
that patches appear on the sides of the body, back, neck skull, arms, leg,
and the top and bottom of the tail, suggesting that the animal was completely
covered with these "feathers" in life. On the tail, there are also
a series of lighter and darker bands, which may be the remains of melanin,
and thus give an indication of the animal's living appearance.
We also have some direct evidence of Sinosauropteryx's diet. One
fossil
specimen shows the remains of a lizard in its stomach. A second
fossil,
which is also believed to be Sinosauropteryx, was found to contain
the remains of the jawbones of three small mammals, two of the jaws
being from
Zhangheotherium (a Symmetrodont - an extinct order of primitive mammals),
and the other one being from
Sinobaatar (a Multituberculate - another extinct order of mammals).
Finally we also some information about the reproduction of
Sinosauropteryx. The fossil
which had a lizard as part of its preserved stomach content, also contained
a number of eggs (two of which can be clearly seen). It is not thought that these are eggs
that the animal ate (because they are in the wrong part of the body), but rather they
are thought to be the animal's own unlaid eggs. Each egg is about 1 inch (25 millimeters) wide,
and just under 1½ inches (38 millimeters) long.
Sinosauropteryx was a member of the Saurischia ("lizard-hipped") order of dinosaurs. What this means, is that although Sinosauropteryx was not closely related to lizards, it did have similarly shaped pelvic bones.
Sinosauropteryx was a Theropod - a member of a group of related bipedal dinosaurs that included the ancestors of birds (although Sinosauropteryx was not itself an ancestor of birds).
Sinosauropteryx lived between about 125 million years ago and 122 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
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