Dino card No. 1980 of 2,015

Yunnanosaurus

Say it: yoo-NAN-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “Yunnan lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksEarly Jurassic

Yunnanosaurus was an early long-necked dinosaur that lived in China during the Early Jurassic. It could walk on two legs or all fours and used its spoon-shaped teeth to munch on plants.1

Lived

201 to 184 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

Yunnan Province, China (Lufeng Formation and Fengjiahe Formation)1 2

Food

Plants1

Length

7 to 13 m1

Y. huangi reached about 7 m, Y. youngi about 13 m

Height

2 to 4 m1

at the hips; largest species up to 4 m

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Yunnanosaurus had more than sixty spoon-shaped teeth that were self-sharpening because they wore against each other as the animal fed.1

Its teeth were advanced for an early sauropodomorph and looked like those of later giant sauropods, but scientists think this similarity evolved separately.1

The largest species, Yunnanosaurus youngi, reached about 13 metres (42 feet) long, as big as a school bus.1

The first fossils were discovered by Chinese paleontologist Yang Zhongjian (also known as C. C. Young) in the early 1940s.1

Yunnanosaurus lived between about 201 and 183 million years ago, during the Early Jurassic Period.1 2

It could walk on two legs or on all fours, making it a versatile mover through its ancient environment.1

AI-made picture of Yunnanosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Yunnanosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

Myth buster

Myth: Yunnanosaurus is often called a prosauropod, meaning it was a direct ancestor of sauropods.

Truth: Scientists now place Yunnanosaurus in a group called Sauropodiformes, which is closer to true sauropods but not a direct ancestor.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Yunnanosaurus
Named by: Young 19403
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Sauropodiformes3
Classification: Sauropodomorpha3
Age of the rocks: 201 to 184 million years (Hettangian to Pliensbachian)3
Rock formations: Lufeng, Fengjiahe3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 17 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young (Yang Zhongjian) named Yunnanosaurus in 1942 after finding many skeletons in Yunnan, China. The type species is Yunnanosaurus huangi.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Yunnanosaurus robustus is a separate species or just a larger individual of Yunnanosaurus huangi.1

Where the facts come from

Yunnanosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Yunnanosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.