Dinosaurs A to Z
Hadrosauridae

Tsintaosaurus sihntow-SORRUHS

"Qingdao lizard"

Generic ornithopod body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Tsintaosaurus 8.3 m (27.2 ft) long
as long as 5 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ornithopod body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Tsintaosaurus
Length
8.3 m (27.2 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (100–66 Mya)
Place
United States · China
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Hadrosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Cerapoda Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Duck-billed dinosaurs with tooth batteries.

Tsintaosaurus (; sic for the old transliteration “Tsingtao”, meaning “Qingdao lizard”) is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China. It was about 8.3 m long and weighed 2.5 t. The type species is Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus, first described by Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young in 1958. As a hadrosaur, Tsintaosaurus had the characteristic ‘duck bill’ snout and a battery of powerful teeth which it used to chew vegetation. It usually walked on all fours, but could rear up on its hind legs to scout for predators and flee when it spotted one. Like other hadrosaurs, Tsintaosaurus probably lived and traveled in herds.

What we know

  • Named by Young, 1958.
  • Body length estimated at about 8.3 m.
  • Fossils found in United States and China.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Tsintaosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.