Australia is famend for its distinctive wildlife like kangaroos and koalas. Nonetheless, Australia was additionally residence to some exceptional prehistoric creatures through the age of dinosaurs. Paleontologists have unearthed the fossils of many dinosaur species that after roamed what’s now Australian land. Listed here are a number of the most well-known dinosaurs present in Australia.
Australovenator (Australovenator wintonensis): This dinosaur was a big carnivorous theropod, just like the well-known Velociraptor. It lived through the early Cretaceous interval, roughly 95 million years in the past.
Muttaburrasaurus (Muttaburrasaurus langdoni): Muttaburrasaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived through the early Cretaceous interval. It was a big, bipedal dinosaur with a particular crest on its head.
Diamantinasaurus (Diamantinasaurus matildae): Diamantinasaurus was a big, long-necked herbivorous dinosaur referred to as a sauropod. It lived through the mid-Cretaceous interval, round 95 million years in the past.
Leaellynasaura (Leaellynasaura amicagraphica): This dinosaur was a small, herbivorous dinosaur that lived through the early Cretaceous interval. It’s notable for its massive eyes, which recommend that it might have been lively through the polar night time.
Minmi (Minmi paravertebra): Minmi was an armored dinosaur referred to as an ankylosaur. It lived through the early Cretaceous interval and was characterised by its closely armored physique.
Cryolophosaurus: Informally referred to as “Elvisaurus,” after the one, ear-to-ear crest throughout its brow, Cryolophosaurus is the most important meat-eating dinosaur but recognized from Jurassic Antarctica (which isn’t saying a lot, because it was solely the second dinosaur ever to be found on the southern continent, after Antarctopelta). Perception into the life-style of this cold-crested lizard must await future fossil discoveries, although it’s a certain wager that its colourful crest was a sexually chosen attribute meant to draw females throughout mating season.
Austrosaurus: (“southern lizard”) is a sauropod dinosaur that lived within the Early Cretaceous interval of Australia. It might develop to 50-60 ft (15.24 meters) in size. Fossil finds recommend a peak of roughly 3.9 meters on the hip and 4.1 meters on the shoulder, which might have given it an virtually stage again. Based on Gregory S. Paul, it was 20 meters lengthy and weighed about 16, 000 kg.
Ozraptor: The identify Ozraptor is just partially correct: Though this small dinosaur did reside in Australia, it wasn’t technically a raptor, just like the North American Deinonychus or the Asian Velociraptor, however a sort of theropod referred to as an abelisaur (after the South American Abelisaurus). Identified by solely a single tibia, Ozraptor is barely extra respectable within the paleontology neighborhood than the putative, nonetheless unnamed Australian tyrannosaur.
Australia’s prehistoric previous involves life by the invention of those exceptional dinosaur species. Continued paleontological excavation will certainly add many extra unfamiliar ‘horrible lizards’ to our understanding of life tens of millions of years in the past on this distinctive continent.