How It Works-Book Of Dinosaurs

DID YOU KNOW? Theropods were ancestrally carnivorous

Compsognathus

(‘Elegant jaw’)

Carnivore

Late Jurassic, 155-145 MYA

Found in: Germany and France

Lived in: Lagoons

Dino skill

Compsognathus may have been small, but

they were incredibly fast, able to run at

60km/h – that’s half as fast as cheetahs – to

escape predators and to catch small prey.

Killer rating: 2/5

Speed: 4/5

Defence: 1/5

Compsognathus

Compsognathus had no

time for chewing its food

• a whole Bavarisaurus
  has been found in
  Compsognathus

fossils

Fact

Complete skeleton

Compsognathus skeletons

might have looked like this

Pointed teeth

It had a small pointed head

with sharp teeth

Equilibrium

To help it run fast, its long tail

helped to give the

Compsognathus balance

Deadly

Sharp claws made

Compsognathus a

deadly dinosaur

Sharp sight

Large eyes with binocular

vision aided hunting

Short arms

Compsognathus had short

arms with two clawed fi ngers

on each hand