Compsognathus longipes
- "pretty jaw"
- Late Jurassic
- 3 feet long

[I didn't get a picture of the plaque, so I'm taking info from one of my books and my own knowledge.]

Shown with my Mom's hand for size reference.

One of the first complete dinosaur skeletons ever found was also one of the smallest. Compsognathus was found perfectly preserved in the fine lithographic limestone of Bavaria, Germany. In its build and appearance it is very similar to Archeopteryx, which was also found there, giving an early indication of the close relationships between the birds and dinosaurs.

Although the length of Compsonathus is given as three feet, this gives the wrong impression, as most of that is tail and neck. The body is about the size of a chicken. It was evidently a meat-eater, as the German specimen has the remains of a lizard in its stomach; its last meal before death. A recent discovery shows the presence of unhatched eggs surrounding the fossil. This specimen had been a female and the eggs had been ejected from the body cavity by the trauma of her death.

Compsognathus is often shown with two fingers on each hand. However, some of the finger bones may have been missing from the original specimen, and it may have had three fingers.

From the Dinosaur Walk Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

~ harui