Emausaurus | Facts & Information

In the summer of 1963 in Grimmen, about 20 km from the town of Greifswald in northern Germany, researcher Werner Ernst discovered the fossil remains of a herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the Mesozoic era, during the Lower Jurassic Period, about 190-180 million years ago.

The partial skeleton of this dinosaur was exhibited at the University of Greifswald and according to specialists represents the only specimen of its kind in the whole world.

The university provided paleontologists with funds to restore the discovered fossils because their conservation was very important. Also in front of the University of Greifswald was made a bronze sculpture of this dinosaur.

The researchers estimated the length of an adult specimen at 2 m, height at 0.7 m and weight at 40 kg. It had its body protected on the dorsal side with numerous bony plates and sharp protrusions extending from the neck area to the tip of the tail.

Its only vulnerable parts were its flanks and abdomen. It moved both bipedally and on all four long, muscular limbs terminated with long fingers and sharp claws.

Emausaurus Feed

The almost complete skull of this prehistoric animal – through the shape of its teeth and jaw – provided the necessary data to establish that Emausaurus was a large herbivore that populated the forested areas near water courses.

It had a long snout, finished with a curved beak devoid of teeth, with which it managed to pluck plants from the ground level. The jaws were not very strong, they had spoon – shaped teeth for partial shredding of plant pieces, then the food ended up in the stomach where it was ground with the help of stomach stones – called gastroliths-that the Emausaurus swallowed in order to ease its digestion.