Nanosaurus

What it was like

Nanosaurus was a small, fast plant eater that ran on two legs. It had short arms, a long tail for balance and leaf-shaped teeth.

Its classification has a long, tangled history. Several other names, once used for similar small dinosaurs of the same rocks, are now thought to belong to Nanosaurus.

Its world

It lived in the Late Jurassic, in what are now Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. Its fossils come from the Morrison Formation, a land of rivers and floodplains ruled by giants such as Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus.

Among those giants, Nanosaurus probably relied on speed to escape predators like Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus.

How it was found

Marsh named Nanosaurus in 1877. About 29 finds are known today.