Fun Yunnanosaurus Facts For Kids

Yunnanosaurus huangi, often known as the Yunnan lizard, is a dinosaur genus that belongs to the prosauropod dinosaur family. Young described it in 1942.

The Yunnanosaurus classification is the Chordata, Sauropsida, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, and Prosauropoda. Yunnanosaurus is regarded as a significant species since its distinguishing characteristics were bestowed with an unanticipated development that ushers in the shift of convergent evolution.

Yunnanosaurus skulls have approximately 60 rather sophisticated teeth, indicating the beginning of the next stage of species development. Yunnanosaurus' sophisticated teeth resembled those of sauropods, the major plant-eaters of the Middle and Late Jurassic eras. Yunnanosaurus, the last of the prosauropods, also possessed a different-shaped head than its forefathers.

Young Chung Chien found many partial fossils in 1939, which Wang Tsun Yi excavated. These Dinosauria partial fossil remains have been discovered in Asia.

If you are interested in reading more about dinosaurs, you should check out our Chromogisaurus and Veterupristisaurus facts.

Yunnanosaurus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Yunnanosaurus'?

The name of this dinosaur is pronounced as 'Ew-nan-o-sawr-es'. It is greek for Yunnan lizard. The bones of up to 20 adults of varying sizes have been discovered in the People's Republic of China's Lufeng Formation.

What type of dinosaur was a Yunnanosaurus?

Yunnanosaurus dinosaur is a genus of prosauropod dinosaurs from Yuanmou's Middle Jurassic Zhanghe Formation in China's Yunnan province. Scientists do not believe that this dinosaur is particularly close to the sauropods because of teeth in lineage since the rest of the animal's anatomy is clearly prosauropod in design.

Because of this key distinction, the closeness in dentition between Yunnanosaurus and sauropods might be an example of convergent evolution. This dinosaur belongs to the Prosauropoda family.

In which geological period did the Yunnanosaurus roam the Earth?

The species is thought to have existed in the present Asian Woodlands around 200-185 million years ago during the Early Jurassic era. The Early Jurassic period begins immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction catastrophe, 201.3 Mya (million years ago), and concludes at the beginning of the Middle Jurassic period, 174.1 Mya.

When did the Yunnanosaurus become extinct?

Yunnanosaurus huangi is an extinct genus of sauropodomorph dinosaurs that lived in red beds at Yunnan Province, China, between 201-168 million years ago.

Where did a Yunnanosaurus live?

Yunnanosaurus dinosaur is an extinct genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived between 201-168 million years ago in what is now Yunnan Province, China, and was named for it.

What was a Yunnanosaurus' habitat?

Yunnanosaurus huangi ate plants. It lived in Asia during the Jurassic era. Its fossils have been discovered in areas like Yunnan (China). It preferred areas like forests of ferns, cycads, and conifers and with warm, moist, tropical breezes.

Who did a Yunnanosaurus live with?

It would've lived alongside the dinosaurs present in that period. Yunnanosaurus comes under the classification of Chordata, Sauropsida, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, and Prosauropoda.

How long did a Yunnanosaurus live?

These species were extinct during the Early Jurassic Period (206-180 million years ago), but they appear to have given rise to the bigger and more specialized sauropods, which remained one of the major dinosaur families until the end of the Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago.

How did they reproduce?

All dinosaurs, like extant crocodylians and birds, were oviparous, or egg-laying. There are several good specimens of fossilized egg remains and nests available for research. Dinosaurs produced hard-shelled eggs similar to birds rather than soft-shelled eggs like crocodylians and other reptiles.

Yunnanosaurus Fun Facts

What did a Yunnanosaurus look like?

The Yunnanosaurus skeleton was one of the first known 'prosauropod' dinosaurs, which were primitive herbivores with long necks and tails, as well as high, narrow skulls and short snouts. It was a facultative quadruped, which means it was designed to walk on all four legs but could also walk on its two hind legs.

The teeth of Yunnanosaurus huangi are the dinosaur's most remarkable characteristic, but its position early in dinosaur development is also intriguing, and researching this species might teach us a lot about early dinosaur habitats.

How many bones did a Yunnanosaurus have?

The initial fossils specimens were 20 fragmentary Yunnanosaurus skeletons and two skulls of the facultatively bipedal sauropodomorph (prosauropods) dinosaur. There are two recognized species: Y. huangi Young 1942 and Y. youngi Lu et al. 2007.

It is unknown what this species' skull looks like. The closeness in dentition between Yunnanosaurus and sauropods might be an example of convergent evolution. Yunnanosaurus' teeth most likely developed independently, given the rest of its classification, differed from that of the sauropod.

How did they communicate?

Dinosaurs most likely communicated visually as well as verbally. Defensive body posture, courting activity, and territorial conflicts were most likely accompanied by both verbal and visual displays.

Hoots and hollers, cracking noises, dancing and song, and even symbolic love cries performed with colorful plumage were probably part of such exchanges. Clues from the fossil specimens and contemporary species linked to the ancient creatures, such as birds and crocodiles, suggest how the ancient creatures may have communicated.

How big was a Yunnanosaurus?

Yunnanosaurus dinosaur body skeletons were big, decently built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivores that could also walk bipedally. The greatest species varied in size from 23 ft (7 m) long and 6.5-13 ft (2-4 m) high.

How fast could a Yunnanosaurus move?

This information is not yet known. Yang Zhongjian found the first Yunnanosaurus skeletons in Yunnan, China, in the Lufeng Formation.

How much did a Yunnanosaurus weigh?

There are no living dinosaurs alive today who can go on a bathroom scale and weigh themselves. But how much did they weigh? Scientists have made many educated guesses. We only have bones to go on to estimate the weight; we don't know how much skin, fat, and muscle this guy possessed.

What were the male and female names of the species?

It is famously difficult to distinguish males from females of prehistoric organisms known solely through the fossil, such as dinosaurs because sex differences are rarely evident from the bones.

What would you call a baby Yunnanosaurus?

Dinosaurs hatch from eggs, therefore new young dinosaurs are referred to as hatchlings, as are their reptile counterparts the turtles and crocodiles.

What did they eat?

Yunnanosaurus was a four-legged having plant-eater diet with a long neck that lumbered over the fernlike flora of southern China. It possessed around 60 spoon-shaped teeth that sharpened themselves as the animal fed by wearing against each other. This was in contrast to its prosauropod cousins, which possessed leaf-shaped teeth that wore away against the diet being eaten.

How aggressive were they?

Since they were a plant-eating species, you can assume they weren't aggressive.

Did you know...

Sauropods were a particularly successful group of dinosaurs during the Jurassic and Cretaceous eras, but little is known about their earlier past. To date, the earliest known sauropod dinosaur bones were from the Early Jurassic, and the only evidence of older sauropod dinosaurs was in the shape of disputed footprints.

The earliest known unambiguous sauropod dinosaurs are from the Early Jurassic period. Isanosaurus and Antetonitrus were first characterized as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of Antetonitrus, its sauropod identity, were later called into question.

Why are they called Yunnanosaurus?

Yunnanosaurus was called after the People's Republic of China's Yunnan Province. Young Chung Chien found three fragmentary bones in 1939, which Wang Tsun Yi excavated. In 1942, Young described Yunnanosaurus huangi, a tiny dinosaur with a light build.

He described a second species, Yunnanosaurus robustus, nine years later, in 1951. It was a bigger, heavier-built beast. Further examination of the fossils revealed that the bigger species is really the adult of the smaller species.

Yunnanosaurus vs. Sinosaurus

The presence of both Sinosaurus and the prosauropod Yunnanosaurus fossils in the Lufeng Basin provides direct evidence of them being present at the same time at the same place. Not only was the latter identified in connection with virtually all Sinosaurus locations, but one Sinosaurus specimen was located in the same quarry as a Yunnanosaurus specimen.

Unfortunately, no quarry plan was created during the excavation of the fossils by the local museum, and the only documentation is a single image of the quarry.

According to witnesses, the Sinosaurus skull was discovered near the tail of the Yunnanosaurus. This evidence shows that Sinosaurus dinosaur hunted or scavenged for prosauropods.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other creatures from our Paronychodon fun facts, or Antetonitrus facts for kids.

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

Second image by ArthurWeasley.