Compsognathus
carnivoreLate Jurassic (150 Ma)
PALAEONTOLOGICAL RECORD
Compsognathus is a genus of small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. Members of its single species Compsognathus longipes could grow to around the size of a chicken. They lived about 150 million years ago, during the Tithonian age of the late Jurassic period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany in the 1850s and the second in France more than a century later. Today, C. longipes is the only recognized species, although the French specimen was once thought to belong to a separate species named C. corallestris.
DISCOVERY
First specimen discovered in Bavaria, Germany in the 1850s.
DIETARY PROFILE
Scavenger and insect hunter.
NOTABLE PALAEONTOLOGY FACTS
- It was historically the first dinosaur recognized from a reasonably complete skeleton.
- For decades, it was the smallest known non-avian dinosaur globally.
HOLLYWOOD INACCURACIES
- Size is generally accurate.
- Social pack-behavior is plausible but unconfirmed in fossils.
- Lacks feathers.
SCIENTIFIC DEPICTION
PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS
ESTIMATED LENGTH
Fossil Record1 meters
InGen Clone1 meters
ESTIMATED WEIGHT
Fossil Record3 kg
InGen Clone3 kg
Accuracy Rating
ACCURATE