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The Smallest Dinosaurs

Smallest Dinosaurs: Microceratops

April 4, 2022 Scott Kraus

Everyone Always Neglects the Smallest Dinosaurs

When it comes to dinosaur facts, everyone always wants to know about the biggest dinosaurs: the largest, the longest, the tallest and the heaviest. Rarely though does anyone ask about the smallest dinosaurs to walk the Earth. These small reptiles may not be the prehistoric beasts many people think of when they think of dinosaurs but they still play an important role in the history of dinosaur evolution.

Some Examples of the Smallest Dinosaurs

Microceratops

Smallest Dinosaurs: Microceratops
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia User Matheus1598

Microceratops was the smallest known Ceratopsian species to date. Weighing around five pounds and standing at just a foot and a half and was bipedal in nature. Microceratops was preyed upon by mammals of the Mesozoic era. This frilled dinosaur lived during the Cretaceous period.

Microraptor

Microraptor
Image Courtesy of Flickr User Cryptonaut

Microraptor is most commonly recognized for being the smallest raptor to live. With four wings, the Microraptor weighed just two pounds and was around two feet long from the tip of its snout to its tail. This raptor subsisted on a diet of insects and lived during the Cretaceous period.

 Raptorex

Raptorex
Image Courtesy of Nobu Tamura

Raptorex is the smallest Tyrannosaur known to date. Although certainly larger than the two pound Microraptor, Raptorex weighed in at around a hundred and fifty pounds, a considerable difference from Tyrannosaurus Rex. Raptorex was a Cretaceous period Theropod.

Europasaurus

Europasaurus
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia User Gerhard Boeggemann

Europasaurus is the smallest known Sauropod measuring in at just about ten feet long and weighing in at less than 2,000 lbs. This small long neck lived during the late Jurassic period and researchers believe it to have been so limited in size due to geographical isolation.

Comment below and share your favorite of the smallest dinosaurs not mentioned above!

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