Echinodon

Echinodon was a tiny, agile dinosaur that scurried through the coastal environments of Early Cretaceous England. Initially known only from fragmentary jawbones and teeth discovered in Dorset, it proved to be a surprising survivor of an ancient lineage. Its closest relatives had thrived during the Early Jurassic, tens of millions of years earlier. Roughly the size of a modern domestic cat, Echinodon had a mixture of small leaf-shaped teeth and enlarged canine-like tusks. This specialised dentition suggests it was not a strict vegetarian, but probably an opportunistic omnivore feeding on tough vegetation alongside insects and small vertebrates. As a fleet-footed biped, it relied on speed and camouflage to evade contemporary predators such as early dromaeosaurs and crocodylomorphs. The discovery of Echinodon highlights how relict populations of primitive ornithischians endured in Europe long after disappearing elsewhere.

It was one of the last surviving members of the heterodontosaurid family, living into the Early Cretaceous.

Where and when

Echinodon lived in the Late Jurassic, from 145 to 140.2 million years ago (Berriasian age). Its remains come from United Kingdom, in the Lulworth Formation.

The numbers

Length 0.8 m (estimates run from 0.6 to 0.9 m). Mass about 0.87 kg. Hip height about 0.25 m. That is 0.5 human-lengths, or 0.07 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from fragmentary remains; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

Compare Echinodon with a bus Place on the timeline