Chindesaurus chihndih-SƆːRUHS

"lizard"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Chindesaurus 4 m (13.1 ft) long
3 people holding hands
Length
4 m (13.1 ft)
Period
Late Triassic (213–210 Mya)
Place
South America · United States · Mexico · Brazil
Food
Carnivore
Clade
Dinosauria

Chindesaurus ( ) is an extinct genus of basal saurischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic (213-210 million years ago) of the southwestern United States. It is known from a single species, C. bryansmalli, based on a partial skeleton recovered from Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The original specimen was nicknamed “Gertie”, and generated much publicity for the park upon its discovery in 1984 and airlift out of the park in 1985. Other fragmentary referred specimens have been found in Late Triassic sediments throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, but these may not belong to the genus. Chindesaurus was a bipedal carnivore, approximately as large as a wolf.

Chindesauruss classification is debated, and various papers have had different conclusions on its affinities.

What we know

  • Named by Long & Murry, 1995.
  • Body length estimated at about 4 m.
  • Fossils found in South America and United States.