Zalmoxes

Zalmoxes was a small, robust herbivorous dinosaur that inhabited the prehistoric Hațeg Island in what is now Romania, during the latest Cretaceous period, around 72 to 66 million years ago. Measuring between two and three metres in length, it was roughly the size of a sheep or small pig. Discovered by the pioneering palaeontologist Franz Nopcsa, its diminutive size became a central piece of evidence for the island rule, in which large animals become dwarfed over time due to limited land and resources. Zalmoxes possessed a disproportionately large skull with deep, muscular jaws and thick teeth adapted for eating coarse vegetation. It was an essential herbivore in an extraordinary ecosystem dominated by miniature sauropods and gigantic azhdarchid pterosaurs.

It evolved a remarkably small, stocky body as a classic example of island dwarfism on Hațeg Island.

Where and when

Zalmoxes lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 72 to 66 million years ago (Maastrichtian age). Its remains come from Romania, in the Sânpetru Formation.

The numbers

Length 2.5 m (estimates run from 2 to 3 m). Mass about 77 kg. Hip height about 0.9 m. That is 1.5 human-lengths, or 0.22 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

Compare Zalmoxes with a bus Place on the timeline