The size of a turkey
For over a hundred years it was the smallest dinosaur known.
Jurassic Europe · Theropods
Compsognathus
Elegant jaw · komp-sog-NAY-thus
A tiny, slender hunter the size of a turkey, with a long neck, long legs and a very long tail.
- Size
- About 1m long; 2.5 to 3.5kg
- Lived
- About 150 million years ago
- Found in
- Germany and France
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To scale
How big was it?
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Good to know
Six things about the compsognathus
Its last meal is known
The German skeleton has the bones of a small lizard inside its ribs.
Probably fuzzy
Close relatives found in China had a coat of simple, hair-like feathers.
A sprinter
Its long shins and light build suggest it was very quick.
Only two skeletons
One was found in Germany in the 1850s and a larger one in France in 1971.
It lived beside Archaeopteryx
They shared the same islands, and their skeletons are remarkably alike.
The real thing
Photos of the compsognathus
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
What it ate
Lizards and insects, swallowed whole.
How we know
Both skeletons are almost complete, and one still has its dinner inside.
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