Fun Berberosaurus Facts For Kids

Berberosaurus was a genus of dinosaurs that are suspected to belong to the clade Ceratosauria.

This dinosaur was found in the High Atlas mountain range of Toundoute in Morocco.

This genus consists of only a single species, B. liassicus, which is the type species for the genus as well. Its fossil remains included its postcranial remains, which consisted of parts of a partial skeleton such as a neck vertebra and femur, but not the skull.

These remains were found in the Lower Jurassic strata, which indicated that the dinosaur would have been alive during the Pliensbachian to the Toarcian age of the Early Jurassic period.

This would make this dinosaur a neotheropod, which means that this was a theropod that had most likely survived the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event.

The classification of this dinosaur has gone through multiple changes after it was discovered.

Initially, in their analysis, Ronan Allain, Ronald Tykoski, Michel Monbaron, Najat Aquesbi, and their colleagues, who also named and described it, found this genus to be a basal member of the clade Abelisauroidea on the basis of the structure of the neck vertebra found, which was similar to other abelisauroid dinosaurs.

A few years later, Carrano and Sampson suggested that this dinosaur was a basal ceratosaur, and since it lived during the Early Jurassic period, there is a possibility that it is one of the oldest known ceratosaurs, if not the oldest known ceratosaur.

Then when its phylogeny was analyzed by Ezcurra, Agnolin, and Novas, they reported it to be related to both ceratosaurs and abelisauroid dinosaurs.

Some others also suggested that the theropod was related to Dilophosaurus and Dilophosaurus Sinensis.

If you want to read more about other cool dinosaurs, be sure to check out our Heterodontosaurus interesting facts for kids and Chungkingosaurus interesting facts for kids pages.

Berberosaurus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Berberosaurus'?

Berberosaurus has a fairly simple pronunciation and can be phonetically pronounced as "Ber-ber-o-sore-us".

What type of dinosaur was a Berberosaurus?

Berberosaurus was a theropod or neotheropod and was classified as belonging to the clade or group Ceratosauria by Caranno and Sampson in their analysis of its phylogeny.

Ceratosaurs are characterized by their ornamented skulls, small arms, and stocky hind legs.

However, when Ronan Allain, Ronald Tykoski, Michel Monbaron, Najat Aquesbi, and their colleagues initially described it, they classified this dinosaur as a basal abelisauroid, which is a family or group of more advanced ceratosaur dinosaurs that have grooves or pits on their skulls with functionless forelimbs, and stocky hind legs.

Thus, the Berberosaurus is considered more advanced than Elaphrosaurus or Ceratosaurus, which are both ceratosaur theropods.

It was revealed in the phylogenetic analysis of Ezcurra, Agnolin, and Novas, that this dinosaur was related to both abelisauroid dinosaurs, as well as other ceratosaurs.

Neither the abelisauroid dinosaurs nor the other ceratosaurs have been found to exist before the Middle or Late Jurassic, other than some exceptions. This makes this dinosaur one of the oldest known ceratosaur whose remains have been found as of yet.

This ceratosaur was also found to be related to Dilophosaurus, which also lived during the Early Jurassic.

In which geological period did the Berberosaurus roam the earth?

The postcranial remains of this basal ceratosaur were found in Toundoute, Morocco, in the layers of the Lower Jurassic strata. This led to the conclusion that these theropods would have existed from the beginning of the Pliensbachian age to the end of the Toarcian age of the Early Jurassic period, which would have been approximately 190.8-174.1 million years ago.

When did the Berberosaurus become extinct?

As only parts of its partial skeleton have been found from Toundounte, the time and reason for its extinction cannot be definitively known. However, the fossil that has been discovered showed that these dinosaurs of the genus Berberosaurus would have lived during the Pliensbachian to the Toarcian ages of the Early Jurassic.

They could have survived long enough to be alive after the Early Jurassic period ended, but there is no evidence of it yet.

Where did a Berberosaurus live?

An animal from the genus Berberosaurus would have lived during the Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic in what is now known as Morocco, as a partial skeleton fossil of the Berberosaurus was found in the High Atlas Mountains near Toundoute, which lies in the Province of Ouarzazate in Morocco.

What was a Berberosaurus' habitat?

This neotheropod dinosaur would have lived in a terrestrial environment that would have prevailed in modern-day Toundoute during the Early Jurassic.

Who did a Berberosaurus live with?

These theropods are suspected to have lived independently of others of their own kind due to their carnivorous nature, but other dinosaurs that would be present during the same time period include ornithischians, prosauropods, sauropods, as well as other smaller theropods.

How long did a Berberosaurus live?

The lifespan of a Berberosaurus liassicus is not known, but Ceratosaurus has been roughly estimated to have had a life expectancy of more than 70 years, which is impressive since carnivore dinosaurs are usually thought to have lived for a much shorter amount of time than herbivores.

How did they reproduce?

The Berberosaurus was an oviparous animal, which means that it laid eggs from which its young ones emerged. However, due to lack of evidence, more information like the clutch size or incubation period is not known.

Berberosaurus Fun Facts

What did a Berberosaurus look like?

The Berberosaurus was a basal ceratosaur, of which only some parts of a partial skeleton such as a neck vertebra, femur, fibulae, and parts of a tibia have been recovered till now.

Its skull was not found among its remains but could have been tall with ornamentation like other ceratosaur animals.

The length of its femur was observed to be 20 in (50.5 cm), which is similar to that of a Dilophosaurus. Its hands were very small and it is likely that they would have been functionless, but could have had four fingers or digits.

Its hind legs, on the other hand, would have been strong and stocky, as these animals were bipedal, that is, they walked or ran on two legs.

How many bones did a Berberosaurus have?

The exact number of bones that a Berberosaurus could have had in its body cannot be currently evaluated. This is because only a very few parts of its skeleton have been found, with the skull not being found entirely. Thus, more remains of this genus need to be discovered.

How did they communicate?

Although it is not known how exactly these particular theropods communicated with each other, it is thought that they would have used either some form of vocalizations or body language or a combination of both. Scientists say that dinosaurs could have communicated with each other using hoots, hollers, cracking sounds, or even a prehistoric form of dinosaur dance!

How big was a Berberosaurus?

The Berberosaurus was fairly large in size, like most ceratosaurs. The body length of an average adult belonging to this genus has been estimated at 16.7 ft (5.1 m). Thus, they were about twice the body length of an Atrociraptor, which was a dromaeosaurid theropod that lived during the Late Cretaceous.

How fast could a Berberosaurus move?

The speed of a dinosaur of this genus is not yet known, but that of a Ceratosaurus has been estimated to be 30 mph (48 kph), so it is possible that a Berberosaurus would have run at more or less the same speed.

How much did a Berberosaurus weigh?

The weight of an average adult dinosaur from this genus has been estimated to be in the range of 485-632 lb (220-287 kg). This would have made these animals around 30 times lighter than the famous dinosaurs of the Tyrannosaurus genus.

What were the male and female names of the species?

There were no sex-specific names for the male and female Berberosaurus.

What would you call a baby Berberosaurus?

Like most, if not all, dinosaurs, a baby Berberosaurus would have been called a hatchling when it had just hatched out of its egg.

What did they eat?

These animals were carnivorous theropods, which meant that they would have fed on any ornithischians, sauropods, or even other smaller theropods that would have lived alongside them during the Early Jurassic in modern-day Morocco.

How aggressive were they?

There is a high chance that these basal ceratosaurs would have been quite aggressive towards any other animal that would have invaded its territory, and it is theorized that their bite force was so strong that they could have defeated animals much larger than them.

Did you know...

When the fossils of this dinosaur were discovered, it was observed that tectonic activity, such as shifting of tectonic plates or mountain building, had affected the fossils to a great degree and some of the bones like the femur and cervical or neck vertebra had been affected and become a bit deformed.

However, the bones could still be properly described and the evidence of tectonic activity is always considered very important in order to know about the history of how nature works.

How did the Berberosaurus get its name?

The fossilized remains of the Berberosaurus were found in the High Atlas Mountains near the village of Toundoute. This village is located in the Ouarzazate Province in Morocco, and the native inhabitants of North African countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco.

Thus, in 2007, Ronan Allain, Ronald Tykoski, Michel Monbaron, Najat Aquesbi, and their colleagues named this dinosaur after this ethnic group.

The species name, B. liassicus, is a reference towards the Lias rock strata in which the fossils of Berberosaurus were found. Lias represents the Rhaetian to Toarcian ages, that is, any fossils found in this layer will have been from the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic periods.

The Berberosaurus was a predator of which dinosaurs?

Berberosaurus, like many other large ceratosaurs, is thought to have been a voracious predator of many other herbivorous or plant-eating dinosaurs living in the same region.

It would have fed on ornithischians, sauropods, prosauropods, and other smaller theropods. It is likely that it could have also been able to attack animals of a much bigger size than itself.

In fact, the fossils of this ceratosaur were found along with a sauropod called Tazoudasaurus, which was a herbivore dinosaur that was quite small for a sauropod, but was almost more than twice the size of a Berberosaurus!

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Crichtonsaurus facts and Austroraptor facts for kids.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Berberosaurus coloring pages.

Image one by NobuTamura.

Image two by Midwestern Dinos.

*Please note that this is an image of the Ceratosaurus, a dinosaur similar to a Berberosaurus. If you have an illustration of the Berberosaurus, please let us know at hello@kidadl.com.