‘Pocket sauropod’ sheds light on giant’s evolution
At 40 metres long and 100 tonnes in weight, and with an exceptionally long neck and small head, the herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs were the largest animals ever to have walked the Earth. In 2006, fossil remains of a diminutive form of sauropod – Europasaurus, measuring only 6 metres long and weighing just 0.8 tonnes – were discovered at a quarry in northern Germany. The fossils from the quarry are the best sauropod remains ever discovered, since they include most bones of the skull, as well as different growth stages. In a new study published in Journal of Systematic Palaeontology