Sharon Judith

Gracilisuchus (wildlife animal) was a very small relative of the crocodile species that exist today.

These small pseudosuchians (a group that includes crocodilian ancestors) lived in the Middle Triassic or maybe even Late Triassic period of Argentina and their fossil remains were discovered in the 1970s in the Chañares Formation. It was discovered by Alfred S. Romer (1972) and his colleagues when they went on an expedition to this site.

Along with a dermal armor having dorsal scutes over them in rows and small forelimbs, this genus of the Gracilisuchidae family was found in a slab along with the remains of Lagosuchus, its dinosaur ancestor.

Agustinia Lecuona and Julia Desojo declared a length of 11 in (28 cm) for the body without the tail and hip.

A paper that came out recently after intensive analysis has placed this dinosaur in a new family called Gracilisuchus, clubbing them with the Turfanosuchus and Yonghesuchus.

It was also believed that This basal extinct genus was initially thought to have been a dinosaur but that hypothesis was rejected. The six known fossil specimens of Gracilisuchus were noted to include a femur, parts of the shoulder, some jawbones, vertebrae, a hind limb bone, paramedian osteoderms, and a skull.

Many bones of the Gracilisuchus extinct genus of the Suchia classification have been shifted to other genera groups as well.

This basal late Triassic reptile fauna displayed some interesting features.

The Gracilisuchus skeleton indicated that this dinosaur would have been able to walk on all four limbs. Since similar features are shared between the Sphenosuchia and Gracilisuchus, they might have come under a common clade of crocodylomorphs.

These Pseudosuchians (a group that includes the ancestors of crocodilians) were noted to have long bodies and crawled on the ground in search of food and these creatures had a carnivorous diet.

If you'd like to learn more about similar animals, check out our Palaeosaurus interesting facts for kids or Hungarosaurus fun facts that you're sure to love.

The Scelidotherium species that belonged to the Scelidotheriinae family existed in various of South and North America around 0.67 million years ago. The Scelidotheriinae family contains the most diverse clades of Tardigrada.

In 1889, it was put into the family Scelidotheriidae by Ameghino but in 1988, it was assigned to the Mylodontidae by Carroll.

In 1995, Gaudin and Zurita reassigned it to Scelidotheriinae subfamily.

It was only recently that they were assigned to full family status by Preslee. So, from this, these extinct ground sloths were constantly removed and put into different groups throughout history.

They were an extinct genus of ground sloths that came from the Mylodontidae family and may have lived between the Middle Pleistocene epoch to the Late Pleistocene period. The fossil distribution of this ground sloth indicated they might have been endemic to Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Panama.

It was first reported by Charles Darwin in his journal named 'The Voyage of the Beagle' about some perfect fossil material which was Scelidotherium when he was traveling in 1832 on land from Bahía Blanca to Buenos Aires.

He went on to club it in the same group as Megatherium.

It was Owen in 1840 who recognized the fossils and named it 'Scelidotherium' which meant 'femur beast' to denote the unique proportions of the skeletal structure and elements.

Scientists have speculated that humans or 'homo sapiens' were responsible for the demise of ground sloths but this theory is yet to be proven as there was no physical evidence or data to base this speculation.

There is not much information available on how these extinct mammals from the mammalian superorder called would have looked xenarthra would have looked. This sloth that belonged to the genera of Megatherium and Mylodon were believed to have had four toes and a lot of hair!

Scientists and paleontologists all over the world are still trying to understand Scelidotherium giant sloth evolution and phylogeny.

If you'd like to learn more on similar mammalia, check out our Mylodon fun facts for kids or Glyptodon interesting facts for kids that you're sure to love!

The Saurolophus was a herbivorous Ornithopoda hadrosaurid that lived about 70 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period towards the end of the Mesozoic era. Their fossil remains were discovered in the Red Deer River in Alberta, Canada by Barnum Brown in the year 1911.

It was Mr. Barnum Brown who also gave the name for this dinosaur.

S. osborni was a type species and was described by Barnum Brown from Canadian fossils in 1912. In fact, it was one of the few dinosaurs whose almost complete fossil material is known from different countries, along with the skin impressions.

Later on, a certain second specimen has also been identified in parts of Mongolia and China as Saurolophus angustirostris. These giant dinosaurs of the Reptilia classification were duck-billed and identified with a crest or spike on their head.

This was also why these dinosaurs were given the name 'Saurolophus' as it was greek for 'lizard crest'.

Saurolophus skeleton greatly resembled the skeletons of other hadrosaurids. They had short front limbs while the legs at the back were long, strong, and well-built.

The long tail of this hadrosaurid provided balance when walking or running and was off the ground. The Saurolophus skull structure was quite unique.

This plant-eating dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous had a toothless beak.

As mentioned earlier, the cranial crest on top of their head at a 45-degree angle was hollow, and many dinosaur enthusiasts are still trying to find out what exactly their function was and their uses could have been many.

One such speculation is that it was linked to a flap of skin that extended over the nostrils and could have been used for the purpose of attracting a mate or making loud noises.

They also stated that these dinosaurs were herbivores after studying the fossils of their teeth and mouth. The mouth was known to have organs that helped the Saurolophus dinosaur to keep the food in its mouth, similar to the cheeks of humans.

This allowed easy grinding of the food like plants, leaves, twigs, and so on.

From the discovery of this dinosaur's fossil materials, it was also found that they possessed certain bony eye rings that were very strange to paleontologists and scientists. Barnum Brown's discovery of this dinosaur can be seen in the American Museum of Natural History!

If you'd like to learn more about dinosaurs, check out our Homalocephale fun facts for kids or Ludodactylus interesting facts that are sure to keep you hooked!