An early giant
It was one of the first really large dinosaurs, and an early relative of the long-necks.
The first dinosaurs · Long-necked plant-eaters
Plateosaurus
Broad lizard · PLAT-ee-oh-SORE-us
A big plant-eater with a long neck, a small head, a heavy body and strong hind legs.
- Size
- 5 to 10m long; up to 4 tonnes
- Lived
- About 214 to 204 million years ago
- Found in
- Germany, Switzerland and France
Plods after you on its hind legs. Move your pointer and see.
To scale
How big was it?
The bars are drawn to the same scale. On these pages the animals are sized in proportion to each other as far as a screen allows: the giants are shrunk a little and the smallest are enlarged, so that you can see them all.
Good to know
Six things about the plateosaurus
It walked on two legs
For years it was shown on all fours. Its arms could not turn palm-down, so it walked on its hind legs.
More than a hundred skeletons
So many have been found in Germany that it is one of the best-known dinosaurs of all.
Stuck in the mud
Many seem to have died trapped in sticky mud. Their bodies were found upright.
It grew at different rates
Some adults were five metres long and others ten. How big it got may have depended on food and weather.
A thumb claw
A large claw on each thumb may have been for defence or for pulling down branches.
The real thing
Photos of the plateosaurus
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
Leaves from conifers and cycads, reached by standing tall on its hind legs.
How we know
The many skeletons from Trossingen in Germany let scientists study how individuals differed, which is very rare.
Keep going
More from The first dinosaurs
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