Fun Blikanasaurus Facts For Kids

Do you find dinosaurs fascinating? Then here we have all the information on the large herbivorous dinosaur, the Blikanasaurus.

The literal meaning of their name is 'lizard from Blikana'. They were a species of sauropodomorph dinosaur who lived around the Blikana mountain in Herschel of Eastern Cape in South Africa. They were alive around the late Triassic period.

The late Triassic period ended around 201.3 million years ago when the Jurassic period started. The end of the Triassic period was marked by a mass extinction event which probably also caused the extinction of these dinosaurs. Only two bones of the Blikanasaurus have ever been found.

The first fossil was a partial hindlimb and the other fossil was a right metatarsal. These two bones suggest that they were heavily built, so they were probably quadruped.

Read on to know more about the Blikanasaurus characteristics, features, their history, classification, and characteristics and if you like this article, then also check out Abydosaurus and Argyrosaurus.

Blikanasaurus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Blikanasaurus'?

The phonetic pronunciation of the 'Blikanasaurus' is 'Blik-ah-nah-sore-us'.

What type of dinosaur was a Blikanasaurus?

The classification of Blikanasaurus species of sauropodomorph dinosaur form is family Blikanasauridae.

In which geological period did Blikanasaurus roam the earth?

The Blikanasaurus were one of the oldest or earliest dinosaurs to roam the earth. They were one of the first sauropods that later evolved and became the famous long-necked sauropods. The Blikanasaurus roamed the earth around the late Triassic period, around 228 million years ago.

When did the Blikanasaurus become extinct?

This sauropod roamed the earth around the late Triassic period. The Triassic period was the shortest period of the Mesozoic era.

The Triassic period ended around 201.3 million years ago and the Jurassic period started. The end of the Triassic period was marked by a mass extinction event that caused the death of many species.

This event caused many species of dinosaurs to thrive as they survived, but it's assumed that the Blikanasaurus did not survive it. Hence, this form of dinosaur probably went extinct around 201.3 million years ago in the mass extinction event.

Where did Blikanasaurus live?

The specimens of the Blikanasaurus were both found in lower Elliot Formation, which is located at the foot of the Blikana mountain in Herschel of Eastern Cape in South Africa. Hence, they probably lived in Gondwana, which is the present-day South Africa, when the Pangea was still not broken.

What was the Blikanasaurus' habitat?

The climate of most of Pangea, including Gondwana aka present-day South Africa was very dry. The winters used to be extremely cold and the summers extremely hot. However, the climate started to improve little by little during the late Triassic period. When the Jurassic period arrived, the climate improved quite a lot so that the dinosaurs thrived.

Who did Blikanasaurus live with?

A very small amount of discoveries have been made on the Blikanasaurus. That's why it's not known whether they lived in a herd or lived solitary lives. Different sauropods lived in different social structures, so the social structure of the Blikanasaurus is impossible to know from that as well.

How long did a Blikanasaurus live?

Due to a lack of research, the exact lifespan of this sauropod is not known. However, giant sauropods are the longest-living dinosaurs. They are known to live for about 100-300 years. However, Blikanasaurus are medium-sized sauropods, so it's assumed that they would have a little shorter lifespan.

How did they reproduce?

The Blikanasaurus was one of the oldest or earliest species of sauropods. Only two specimens of Blikanasaurus have ever been found by paleontologists, so not much about their reproduction has been found yet.

However, all species of sauropods were known to be oviparous in nature. Oviparous animals, like birds, reptiles, or some fish of present day, all reproduce by laying eggs. Similar to them, the Blikanasaurus also gave birth to juveniles by laying eggs.

Blikanasaurus Fun Facts

What did Blikanasaurus look like?

Only two specimens of Blikanasaurus fossils were ever found in the Blikana mountain in Herschel, Eastern Cape in South Africa. The first fossil was a partial hind limb and the second fossil after the hind limb was a right metatarsal fossil of a foot.

Hence, figuring out the full appearance features of the Blikanasaurus out of just these two fossils is quite impossible.

However, scientists have discovered that they were quite robust and heavily built. Owing to their robust body, they believe that the Blikanasaurus were quadruped, so they were considered to be basal sauropods.

How many bones did a Blikanasaurus have?

An entire Blikanasaurus skeleton has never been found. Due to a lack of data and only two bones of the Blikanasaurus everbeing found, it's not known how many bones they had exactly. However, dinosaurs, in general features, had about 200 bones in their body on average. Giant dinosaurs might have features like a little higher number of bones.

How did they communicate?

This sauropodomorph dinosaur probably communicated both visually and vocally. Dinosaurs, in general, were known to bellow and grunt at each other and they even showed aggression during courtship behavior when fighting against each other.

How big was the Blikanasaurus?

The Blikanasaurus size was about 16.4 ft (5 m) in length and about 5 ft (1.5 m) in height. Compared to an Argentinosaurus, the largest herbivorous dinosaur, Blikanasaurus were at least about seven times shorter in length and 14 times shorter in height.

Argentinosaurus was about 120 ft (35.6 m) in length and about 70 ft (21.3 m) in height.

How fast could a Blikanasaurus move?

The exact speed at which the Blikanasaurus could run is not known. However, large-built quadruped dinosaurs, like Blikanasaurus we're certainly at a disadvantage when running owing to their heavy body.

Some quadruped dinosaurs, like Stegosaurus could run at the speed of only about 7 mph (11.3 kph) while Parasaurolophus could run at almost about 25 mph (40.2 kph). It can be assumed that Blikanasaurus could run at a pace around these speed limits as well.

How much did a Blikanasaurus weigh?

The Blikanasaurus weighed about 1000 lb (453.6 kg) on average.

What were the male and female names of the species?

Males and females did not have any specific names.

What would you call a baby Blikanasaurus?

A baby Blikanasaurus was called a hatchling, nestling, or juvenile.

What did they eat?

Blikanasaurus were purely herbivorous in nature. They only consumed plant matters in the form of like seeds, twigs, or leaves.

How aggressive were they?

It's not known whether they were aggressive or not. It can be assumed that similar to any other animal, they also only showed aggressive behavior when they were felony threatened by something or when they were fighting others during the breeding season.

Blikanasaurus were herbivores, so they didn't even attack other animals for food. It can be assumed that they were rather not aggressive in nature.

Did you know...

Blikanasaurus are considered a prosauropod. A prosauropod was a group of dinosaurs that were the ancestors of sauropods of the Jurassic period. They evolved into the sauropods that had large body with very long necks.

Why are they called Blikanasaurus?

The literal meaning of the name 'Blikanasaurus' is 'lizard from Blikana'. Their fossils were found in the Blikana mountain in Herschel, Eastern Cape of South Africa. That's probably the reason behind their name. Their scientific name is Blikanasaurus cromptoni. The 'cromptoni' was given in honor of the renowned American paleontologist, A.W. 'Fuzz' Crompton.

Would Blikanasaurus bite?

It's not known whether Blikanasaurus would bite or not. However, it can be assumed that similar to any other animal, they might have resorted to biting if they were threatened in any way.

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 Coelurus facts, or Aublysodon fun facts for kids.

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

*We've been unable to source an image of Blikanasaurus and have used an image of another sauropod instead. If you are able to provide us with a royalty-free image of Blikanasaurus, we would be happy to credit you. Please contact us at hello@kidadl.com.