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| Dinosaur Fact Sheets | EnchantedLearning.com Dimetrodon Fact Sheet |
Dinosaur/Paleontology Dictionary |
| NAME: | Meaning - Dimetrodon means "Two measures tooth" Pronounced - di-MET-ro-DON Named By - Edward Drinker Cope When Named - 1884 |
| DIET: | Carnivore (meat-eater) |
| SIZE: | Length - 11.5 feet (3.5 m) long Height - about 3 ft (1 m) tall at the hips Weight - 550 pounds (250 kg) |
| WHEN IT LIVED: | Permian period, about 280-245 million years ago (long before the dinosaurs appeared). |
| WHERE IT LIVED: | Fossils have been found in Texas and Oklahoma in the USA, North America. Trackways (fossilized footprints) of Dimetrodon have been found in Nova Scotia, Canada. |
| FOSSILS: | Dimetrodon is known from many fossils and some footprints. |
| CLASSIFICATION: |
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| INTERESTING FACTS: |
Dimetrodon had a large sail-like flap of skin along its back, dense with blood vessels. The sail was supported by long, bony spines, each of which grew out of a separate spinal vertebra (a bone in the back). The sail may have been a thermoregulatory structure, used to absorb and release heat. The sail may have also been used for mating and dominance rituals, and/or for making it look much larger to predators. Dimetrodon had sharp teeth and clawed feet.
Dimetrodon was not a dinosaur, but a pelycosaur, a so-called mammal-like reptile. The pelycosaurs led to the mammals; they are more closely related to us than to the dinosaurs. |
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