Cetiosaurus
Cetiosaurus was one of the very first long-necked dinosaurs ever discovered. It lived in what is now England and France about 170 million years ago. This giant plant-eater was as long as a bus and weighed as much as two elephants!12
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Fun facts
Cetiosaurus was named in 1841 by Sir Richard Owen, the same scientist who later invented the word 'dinosaur'. Owen thought it was a giant sea crocodile, not a land dinosaur.1
Its name means 'whale lizard' because Owen believed it was a marine reptile. We now know it was a long-necked dinosaur that walked on land.1
Cetiosaurus had a shorter neck and tail than many other sauropods, but its front legs were as long as its back legs.1
The first Cetiosaurus fossils were found near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England, in the early 1800s.1
A nearly complete skeleton called the 'Rutland Dinosaur' was discovered in 1968 in a clay pit in Rutland, England. It took two years to identify it as Cetiosaurus.1
Most asked questions about Cetiosaurus
?How big was Cetiosaurus?
Cetiosaurus was about 16 metres (52 feet) long and weighed roughly 11 tonnes (12 short tons). That is as long as two double-decker buses and as heavy as two African elephants.14
?What did Cetiosaurus eat?
Cetiosaurus was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It had peg-like teeth for stripping leaves and branches.15
?When did Cetiosaurus live?
Cetiosaurus lived during the Middle Jurassic Period, about 171 to 165 million years ago.1
?Where was Cetiosaurus found?
Fossils of Cetiosaurus have been found mainly in England, but also in France, Switzerland and Morocco. The first fossils were discovered near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England.1
?Is Cetiosaurus a dinosaur?
Yes, Cetiosaurus is a dinosaur. It is a sauropod dinosaur, a group of long-necked, plant-eating giants. When first discovered, scientists thought it was a marine reptile, but we now know it was a land dinosaur.15
?Why is it called Cetiosaurus?
Its name means 'whale lizard' because the scientist who named it, Sir Richard Owen, thought it was a giant sea reptile. We now know it was a land dinosaur.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Many people think Cetiosaurus was a whale or a sea monster because of its name.
Truth: Cetiosaurus was a land-dwelling dinosaur, not a whale or marine reptile. Its name was given before scientists knew it was a dinosaur.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Cetiosaurus
- Named by
- Owen 18416
- Group
- Long-necks
- Family / clade
- Gravisauria6
- Classification
- Sauropodomorpha > Sauropoda6
- Age of the rocks
- 175 to 120 million years (Aalenian / Aptian)6
- Rock formations
- El Mers, Chipping Norton Limestone, Forest Marble6
- Countries
- United Kingdom, Morocco, Spain, France6
- Fossil records
- 30 in the Paleobiology Database6
- Discovery
- Cetiosaurus was named by Sir Richard Owen in 1841 based on fossils found near Chipping Norton, England. He thought it was a giant sea reptile, but later scientists realized it was a sauropod dinosaur.1
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate which species belong to Cetiosaurus. Many early species were based on poor fossils and may be different dinosaurs.1
Where the facts come from
- Cetiosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Cetiosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Cetiosaurus Fact Sheet - Enchanted Learning (enchantedlearning.com)
- Britain's biggest Jurassic dinosaurs | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Cetiosaurus | Zoology | Research Starters | EBSCOhost (ebsco.com)
- Cetiosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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