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ZoomDinosaurs.com
ALL ABOUT DINOSAURS!
What is a Dinosaur? Dino Info Pages Dinosaur Coloring Print-outs Name That Dino Biggest, Smallest, Oldest,... Evolution of Dinosaurs Dinos and Birds Dino Myths

AllAboutDinosaurs.com Megalosaurus
"Great Lizard"
Megalosaurus Printout

Megalosaurus was a large, meat-eating dinosaur that lived about 181-169 million years ago. Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur fossil discovered (in England in 1676). It was also the first dinosaur given a scientific name - by William Buckland in 1824.

ANATOMY
Megalosaurus walked on two powerful legs, had a strong, short neck, and a large head with sharp, serrated teeth. It had a massive tail, a bulky body, toes also had sharp claws, and heavy bones. Its arms were short and had three-fingered hands with sharp claws.

Megalosaurus was up to 30 feet long (9 m), 10 feet tall (3 m), and weighed about 1 ton.



WHEN MEGALOSAURUS LIVED
Megalosaurus lived during the Jurassic period period, about 181-169 million years ago.

DIET
Megalosaurus was a carnivore, a meat eater. It was a large, fierce predator that could kill even large sauropods. Megalosaurus may also have been a scavenger.

INTELLIGENCE
Megalosaurus was a theropod dinosaur, whose intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was high among the dinosaurs.

EQ


LOCOMOTION
Megalosaurus walked on two muscular legs and was a relatively fast runner. Dinosaur speeds are estimated using their morphology (characteristics like leg length and estimated body mass) and fossilized trackways.

DISCOVERY OF FOSSILS AND NAMING THE FIRST DINOSAUR GENUS AND SPECIES
Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur fossil to be scientifically described and named. Buckland found Megalosaurus' fragmentary fossils in England in 1819. Megalosaurus was named in 1824 by William Buckland. In 1827, Gideon Mantell (not Ferdinand Ritgen) assigned it the scientific type species name, Megalosaurus bucklandii, honoring Buckland.

Megalosaurus trackways have also been found in limestone in southern England.

CLASSIFICATION
Megalosaurus was a Saurischian ("lizard-hipped") dinosaur. It was a theropod, and a tetanuran.



Information Sheets About Dinosaurs
(and Other Prehistoric Creatures)

Just click on an animal's name to go to that information sheet. If the dinosaur you're interested in isn't here, check the Dinosaur Dictionary or the list of Dinosaur Genera. Names with an asterisk (*) were not dinosaurs.
How to write a great dinosaur report.

For dinosaur printouts, click here.

For brief dinosaur fact sheets, click here.




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