Dinosaurs / Cretaceous / Zephyrosaurus
Zephyrosaurus
Cretaceous ZEF-eer-oh-SAWR-us, “west wind lizard”
Zephyrosaurus was a small, bipedal ornithopod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now Montana, USA. 8 metres in length and weighed around twenty kilograms. It is classified as an orodromine, a group of agile neornithischians closely related to burrowing forms like Oryctodromeus. The skull of Zephyrosaurus featured distinct bony ridges and small projections on the cheeks, which may have supported display features or reinforced the jaw structure. With swift running legs and small, ridged teeth suitable for grinding tough fibrous plants, it darted through ancient undergrowth while avoiding predators such as Deinonychus and Acrocanthosaurus.
It had prominent cheek ridges and cheek studs that may have anchored strong chewing muscles.
Where and when
Zephyrosaurus lived in the Early Cretaceous, from 115 to 108 million years ago (Aptian-Albian age). Its remains come from United States, in the Cloverly Formation.
The numbers
Length 1.8 m (estimates run from 1.6 to 1.9 m). Mass about 19 kg. Hip height about 0.6 m. That is 1.1 human-lengths, or 0.16 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.