Antetonitrus

What it was like

Antetonitrus was a big plant eater from the time when sauropods were just starting out. It walked on all fours and was heavily built.

Its hands, though, could still grasp, unlike the later sauropods whose hands only carried weight. It shows how the long-necked giants first began.

Its world

It lived in the Early Jurassic, about 201 to 193 million years ago, in what is now South Africa. Its bones come from the Elliot Formation, where it shared the land with the plant eater Massospondylus, the small beaked Heterodontosaurus and Lesothosaurus, and the hunter Dracovenator.

How it was found

Yates and Kitching named Antetonitrus in 2003. Its name means it came before the great thunder lizards, the later sauropods.