Psittacosaurus

The Psittacosaurus was a small, bipedal horned dinosaur. They were herbivores, eating plants to survive. Their name means ‘parrot-lizard’, and they are the ancestors of later horned dinosaurs like the Triceratops. They displayed gregarious behavior, flocking together for survival, and further research has even suggested juvenile Psittacosaurus would babysit for recently-hatched young.

Discovery

Psittacosaurus fossils are abundant throughout Asia, including Russia, Mongolia and China, and date from the Cretaceous period. Juvenile specimens in particular are very common. As recently as 2006, paleontologists spent one week of digging in the Gobi Desert and uncovered 67 Psittacosaurus skeletons.

Palaeoecology

Psittacosaurus hatchlings had long, fast-growing limbs and a robust beak. They had teeth designed for shearing through plant material, but no grinding teeth. Instead, they swallowed stones to wear down food while it passed through the digestive system, much like some modern birds do. These sociable dinosaurs were herbivores and lived between 100 million and 122 million years ago.