Compsognathus

Compsognathus (genus Compsognathus) were tiny predaceous dinosaurs that lived in Europe during the Late Jurassic Period (161 million to 146 million years ago), hence it is called Jurassic world compsognathus dinosaur.

Compsognathus dinosaur, one of the tiniest dinosaurs ever discovered, the compsognathus size is like as a chicken, measuring 60–90 cm (2–3 ft) in length, including the long tail, and weighing roughly 5.5 kg (12 pounds). This skeleton was initially misidentified as an embryo's, but the subsequent study proved it to be that of a lizard, demonstrating Compsognathus' carnivorous instincts.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

It was a fast runner with a light build, a long neck and tail, powerful hind limbs, and tiny forelimbs. Of special interest is a tiny skeleton preserved within the rib cage of one Compsognathus fossil. A similarly related theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period was recently found in China (146 million to 100 million years ago). Sinosauropteryx possesses filamentous features on its skin that are comparable to feather barbs, suggesting that feathers originated from a much simpler structure that likely functioned as an insulator.

Compsognathus Dinosaur

Compsognathus dinosaur (Greek: Compsos, "elegant," "refined," or "dainty," and gnathos, "jaw") is a tiny bipedal carnivorous theropod dinosaur genus. Compsognathus longipes, the species' only member, can reach the size of a turkey. They lived around 150 million years ago, during the Tithonian period of the late Jurassic period. Palaeontologists discovered two well-preserved compsognathus fossils, one in the 1850s in Germany and the other more than a century later in France. Although the bigger specimen identified in France in the 1970s was once thought to belong to a different species and called C. corallestris, C. longipes is now the only accepted species.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Because of the size of the German specimen, which is now thought to be a juvenile, many presentations still refer to Compsognathus as "chicken-sized" dinosaurs.

The bones of small, agile lizards are preserved in the stomachs of both specimens of Compsognathus longipes, making it one of the few dinosaur species whose diet is known with certainty. Further fossil remnants of the genus may have been unearthed in Portugal. Compsognathus is the earliest theropod dinosaur known from a relatively complete fossil skeleton, although not being recognised as such at the time of its discovery.

Classification

Compsognathus was originally classified as a lizard, but its dinosaurian connections were discovered by Gegenbaur, Cope, and Huxley between 1863 and 1868. In 1870, Cope categorised Compsognathus as part of the Symphypoda, a new group of dinosaurs that also included Ornithotarsus (today classified as Hadrosaurus). Both taxa were later discovered to belong to different groups of Cope's dinosaur classification, Compsognathus to the Gonipoda (corresponding to Theropoda, where it is presently placed), and Ornithotarsus to the Orthopoda (equivalent to Ornithischia). Huxley rejected Cope's dinosaur classification system in 1870, instead proposing the Ornithoscelida, which comprised the Dinosauria (which included numerous species now considered ornithischians) and another new clade, the Compsognatha, which contained just Compsognathus.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Later, these groupings went out of favour, however a proposal to resurrect the Ornithoscelida was made in 2017. Marsh used the name Compsognatha for the last time in an 1896 article when it was classified as a suborder of Theropoda. Marsh created the Compsognathidae family in the same article. Friedrich von Huene established the Coelurosauria infraorder in 1914, which contains the Compsognathidae and other tiny theropod families; this classification has been in use since.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Description

The Compsognathidae are a family of primarily tiny dinosaurs that lived in China, Europe, and South America during the Late Jurassic and early Cretaceous eras. Compsognathus dinosaur was the sole known member for many years, but palaeontologists have recently found numerous related taxa. Aristosuchus, Huaxiagnathus, Mirischia, Sinosauropteryx, and perhaps Juravenator and Scipionyx are also members of this group. Mononykus was once considered a member of the family, but Chen and coauthors rejected this in a 1998 study, citing the similarities between 

Mononykus and the compsognathids as an indication of convergent evolution. 

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Compsognathus and its relatives are classified as coelurosaurs, although their exact location is unknown. Some scholars, such as theropod expert Thomas Holtz Jr. and co-authors Ralph Molnar and Phil Currie in the seminal 2004 book Dinosauria, consider the family to be the most primitive of the coelurosaurs, while others consider it to be a member of the Maniraptora. Compsognathus longipes was the only well-known tiny theropod species for over a century. This prompted parallels to Archaeopteryx, as well as speculation of a particularly intimate link with birds. Huxley's interest in the origins of birds was sparked by Compsognathus, not Archaeopteryx. 

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

The two species had such many parallels in shape and dimensions that two Archaeopteryx specimens, the "Eichstätt" and the "Solnhofen," were mistaken for Compsognathus for a while. Many additional theropod dinosaurs, such as maniraptorans, are now thought to have been more closely linked to birds than previously thought.

Compsognathus Size

Although other dinosaurs discovered subsequently, such as Mahakala and Microraptor, were even smaller, Compsognathus was recognised as the smallest known non-avian dinosaur. Separate writers assessed the German specimen to be 70–75 cm (28–30 in) and 89 cm (35 in) long, while the bigger French specimen was believed to be 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) and 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) long. The German specimen's hip height was assessed to be 21 cm (8.3 in) and the French specimen's to be 29 cm (11 in). The German specimen weighed between 0.32 kg (0.71 lb) and 0.58 kg (1.3 lb), whereas the French specimen weighed between 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) and 3.5 kg (7.7 lb). 

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

The larger French specimen would have been comparable in size to larger Sinosauropteryx specimens, but smaller than Huaxiagnathus and Mirischia when compared to other compsognathids. Compsognathus were tiny bipedal creatures with long hind legs and longer tails that they utilised to keep themselves balanced while moving. The hindlimbs were shorter than the forelimbs. Two huge clawed digits and a third, smaller digit that may or may not has been functioning adorned the hand. Their snouts were tapering and their skulls were thin and long. The orbit (eye socket) was the biggest of the five pairs of fenestrae (skull apertures), with the eyes being bigger than the rest of the skull. The number of fingers on Compsognathus' hand has been a point of contention.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Compsognathus was commonly portrayed as having three digits for much of its existence, as is characteristic of theropods. However, only phalanges from the first two digits were survived in the type specimen, leading to the conclusion that Compsognathus had only two functioning digits, with the third metacarpal being exceedingly thin and shortened. The third digit of the French species has at least one or two small phalanges, according to the study. However, no evidence of an unugal phalanx on the third digit has been found, suggesting that the digit was shortened and non-functional.

Behaviour

Any Compy that is curious about humans will be lured to one merely by seeing one. When mates boosted and in bigger groups, Compsognathus are not a threat and prefer to study humans but, when mating boosted and in larger packs, these tiny terrors quickly turn violent and will attack anything, especially humans. They will even devour their fallen pack mates after a battle if they are hungry enough. Once tamed, the Compy is incredibly devoted and affectionate to its new master, and can even travel on their shoulder. However, because the Compy is wiser than most of the other creatures on the island, Raw Prime Meat or Raw Prime Fish Meat is required to gain one's favour during the taming process.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Diet

Compsognathus preyed on tiny animals, as shown by the remains of a lizard found in the German specimen's thoracic chamber. Marsh assumed the tiny skeleton in the Compsognathus belly was an embryo when he studied it in 1881, but Franz Nopcsa determined it was a lizard in 1903. 

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Because of its long tail and limb proportions, Ostrom determined that the bones belonged to a lizard of the species Bavarisaurus, which he thought was a quick and agile runner. This led to the conclusion that the lizard's predators, Compsognathus, must have possessed the keen vision and the capacity to accelerate quickly enough to escape it. Conrad designated the lizard discovered in the German Compsognathus specimen's thoracic chamber as the holotype of a new species, Schoenesmahl dyspepsia. The lizard is completely whole, implying that the Compsognathus devoured its victim entirely. Gastric contents of the French specimen include unidentified lizards or sphenodontids.

Possible Eggs

Near the skeletal remains on the plate of the German Compsognathus, there are numerous circular abnormalities 10 mm (0.39 in) in diameter. In 1993, Peter Griffiths identified them as immature eggs. Later experts questioned their genus affiliation because they were discovered outside the animal's bodily cavity. Two oviducts carrying two unlaid eggs may be seen in a well-preserved fossil of a Sinosauropteryx, a species allied to Compsognathus fossil. The original identification of the alleged Compsognathus eggs was called into question by these Sinosauropteryx eggs, which were proportionally bigger and fewer in number.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Compsognathus Fun Facts

1. Small Dinosaur Compsognathus

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Although it is sometimes represented as the current record-holder, the 2 foot long, 5-pound compsognathus has been regarded as the world's tiniest dinosaur for quite some time. The Microraptor, a small, feathered, four-winged dino-bird that weighed only 3 or 4 pounds soaking wet and marked a side branch (and dead-end) in dinosaur development, currently has that title.

2. As Tiny as It Was, Compsognathus Was the Biggest Dinosaur of Its Habitat.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

The many, exceptionally well-preserved fossils found in Germany's Solnhofen deposits give a comprehensive picture of a late Jurassic environment. Compsognathus is the only genuine dinosaur to have been discovered in these strata, which were dominated by pterosaurs and ancient fish, depending on how you categorise archaeopteryx. Compsognathus was the biggest dinosaur in its environment by definition and default.

3. We Have No Proof Compsognathus Had Feathers

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

One of the strange things about compsognathus is that its fossils exhibit no trace of early feathers, which is surprising given its close kinship with archaeopteryx. Unless this is a product of the fossilisation process, compsognathus was coated with reptile skin, making it the exception rather than the rule among the tiny, feathered theropods of its late Jurassic environment.

4. One Compsognathus Specimen Has a Tiny Lizard in Its Stomach

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Because compsognathus was such a tiny dinosaur, it's safe to assume it didn't eat similarly small theropods. Rather, the study of the preserved stomach contents of several compsognathus specimens shows that this dinosaur hunted non-dinosaur lizards (one specimen revealed the remnants of the tiny bavarisaurus), but it wasn't beyond eating the rare fish or already-dead pterosaur hatchling.

5. The Name Compsognathus Means Pretty Jaw

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

No one knows where in the Solnhofen beds’ compsognathus was discovered, but it was given its name immediately after the type specimen was discovered in the hands of a private collector (Greek for "pretty jaw"). However, compsognathus was not officially verified as a dinosaur until 1896, when it was discussed by prominent American palaeontologist Othniel C. Marsh in a publication, and it remained largely unknown until 1978 when it was redescribed by John Ostrom.

6. According to One Estimate, Compsognathus Could Cruise at 40 Miles Per Hour.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

Using comparable measurements and hypothetical weights, a 2007 research attempted to determine how fast certain meat-eating dinosaurs ran. Compsognathus would have run circles past T. rex, which attained a peak estimated speed of 18 mph if the data are to be believed.

7. Compsognathus Helped Scientists Eventually Recognize the Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds.

Birds originated from dinosaurs and are dinosaurs, according to the evidence. Period. This simple, true remark would have sounded ridiculous 140 years ago. The discovery of the raven-sized Archaeopteryx in the 1860s ultimately convinced many scientists that our feathered companions had reptile origins, thanks to their toothy jaws and feathery wings.

8. This Dinosaur Was a Consummate Lizard-Eater.

[Image will be Uploaded Soon]

In their guts, both had lizard bones preserved. When it comes to final meals, scientists know that a similarly related dinosaur named Sinosauropteryx ate reptile main courses with a side of fresh mammal.

Conclusion

Compsognathus is a small carnivorous theropod dinosaur that lived in Europe during the Late Jurassic Period (161 million to 146 million years ago) One of the smallest dinosaurs known, it grew only about as large as a chicken, hence it is also called baby compsognathus but with a length of about 60–90 cm. The Compsognathidae are a family of tiny dinosaurs that lived in China, Europe, and South America during the Late Jurassic and early Cretaceous eras. Huxley rejected Cope's dinosaur classification system in 1870, instead proposing the Ornithoscelida.