The Smallest Dinosaur Discovered

Lindsay Okrent

November 1, 2009

period 1/2

The Smallest Dinosaur Discovered

-Friedrich, Kristen, Lauren Clark, and Rachel Bauch. "Smallest North American       Dinosaur Discovered." Natural History Museum. Natural History Museum-LA       county, 29 Oct. 2009. Web. 1 Nov. <2009. http://www.nhm.org/site/sites/default/      files/pdf/press/recent/2009_nhmpressrelease_di_fruitadens.pdf>

The article I read was about the smallest dinosaur ever discovered that was recently identified at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles.  The dinosaur's scientific name is Fruitadens haagarorum referring to the type of rock its fossils were discovered in and the Latin word for tooth.  The Fruitadens was discovered in Colorado in the late 1970s but was only recently identified as the smallest dinosaur discovered in North America.  At two pounds and 70 centimeters in length and only a little bigger than the average foot, this species of dinosaur was known for being very fast and scurried between the legs of larger dinosaurs that existed during the Late Jurassic period (about 150 millions years ago).  The fossils that have been found of the Fruitadens show that they most likely lived only a little longer than four years.  Although individually they only lived for four years, this species is one of the most recent existing species of all dinosaurs.  Due to the placement, structure, and size of their teeth. their fossils also show that they were both plant and animal eaters.  Scientists are currently looking for more fossils of the Fruitadens haagarorum to put together more information about the lives of these tiny creatures.

This article interested me because we just recently studied dinosaurs in class so the information I learned about them is fresh in my mind.  Also, this article interested me because when we learned about dinosaurs, one of the main traits that were similar among all dinosaurs was their large size.  But not this dinosaur.

  This little species of Fruitadens haagarorum is no heavier than a brick and no longer in length than a poster board.  I had no idea that dinosaurs this small existed and I was interested in learning any special traits that made these dinosaurs different than normal, larger, ones.  It was very surprising to me that dinosaurs that small existed because most of the creatures we studied during the jurassic or triassic periods were either extremely large dinosaurs or very small mammals, but not many were tiny dinosaurs.  I would be interested in following up on the new information scientists find about these small creatures to see if they find any new discoveries that might make these dinosaurs more unique.  This article is very relevant to our class because we recently finished studying dinosaurs and even more recently finished studying rock formation and fossilization (which is what led to the discovery of the Fruitadens).  I enjoyed reading this article and found the discovery of the small Fruitadens haagarorum very intriguing.