Shunosaurus

Shunosaurus is a relatively small, early sauropod from the Middle Jurassic of Sichuan, China. Known from abundant and exceptionally well-preserved skeletons in the Dashanpu quarry, it is among the anatomically best-understood sauropods in the fossil record. Reaching about ten metres in length and roughly three to four tonnes in body mass, Shunosaurus featured a comparatively short neck for a sauropod. Its most famous feature is a heavy, bony club at the tip of its tail, which bore two pairs of short spikes. This tail club was an active weapon, capable of deterring predatory theropods like Gasosaurus that shared its subtropical floodplain habitat. Its robust, spoon-shaped teeth were adapted for browsing coarse vegetation.

It possessed a bony tail club tipped with small dermal spikes used for active defence against predators.

Where and when

Shunosaurus lived in the Middle Jurassic, from 168 to 161 million years ago (Bathonian-Callovian age). Its remains come from China, in the Lower Shaximiao Formation.

The numbers

Length 10 m (estimates run from 9.5 to 11 m). Mass about 3.7 t. Hip height about 2.6 m. That is 6.1 human-lengths, or 0.92 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from near-complete skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, first ma, last ma, hip height.

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