Dino card No. 1487 of 2,015

Psittacosaurus

Say it: SIT-uh-kuh-SOR-us

Name means: “parrot lizard”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosEarly Cretaceous

Psittacosaurus was a small, fast dinosaur that looked a bit like a parrot. It had a strong beak for snipping plants and lived in Asia during the Early Cretaceous. Some fossils even show long bristles on its tail!1

Lived

137 to 100 million years ago2

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

China, Mongolia, Russia, and Thailand2 1

Food

Plants1

Length

0.13 to 2.5 m1

hatchlings were about 13 cm long, adults up to 2.5 m

Artist's life restoration of Psittacosaurus — How Psittacosaurus may have looked, by Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com). CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Psittacosaurus is the non-avian dinosaur genus with the most known species, up to 13 different ones.1

One fossil of Psittacosaurus was found with long, bristle-like filaments on its tail, similar to those of the dinosaur Tianyulong.1

Psittacosaurus had a brain that was fairly large for its size, suggesting it may have had complex behaviors and good senses of smell and sight.1

Unlike later horned dinosaurs like Triceratops, Psittacosaurus walked on two legs as an adult and did not have a frill or large horns.1

Psittacosaurus swallowed gastroliths (stomach stones) to help break down tough plant material, sometimes more than 50 stones in one animal.1

The first Psittacosaurus fossil was discovered in Mongolia in 1922 by a chauffeur named Wong during an expedition led by Henry Fairfield Osborn.1

Psittacosaurus could slide its lower jaw forward and backward, which may have helped it crack nuts or seeds.1

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Psittacosaurus was a type of parrot dinosaur that could fly.

Truth: Psittacosaurus was a dinosaur that walked on two legs and could not fly. Its name means 'parrot lizard' because of its beak, not because it had wings.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Psittacosaurus
Named by: Osborn 19232
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Ceratopsia2
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia2
Age of the rocks: 137 to 100 million years (Valanginian to Albian)2
Rock formations: Yixian, Ilek, Öösh2
Countries: China, Mongolia, Russia, Thailand2
Fossil records: 70 in the Paleobiology Database2
Also known as: Hongshanosaurus, Protiguanodon (older names now counted as the same animal)2
Discovery: Psittacosaurus was named in 1923 by American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn after a nearly complete skull and skeleton were found in Mongolia by a chauffeur named Wong. Osborn gave it the name because its beak looked like a parrot's.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether the species Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis and Psittacosaurus houi are actually the same dinosaur or two different species.1

Where the facts come from

Psittacosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Psittacosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.