Plateosaurus ("broad lizard") is a prosauropod (early sauropod) that appears in Fantasia. They have long necks with small heads, compared to the rest of their body. They also have three-clawed "hands" and a humped back with large hind legs and three-clawed feet that resemble those of a Velociraptor (without the killing claws).
Background[]
Real life[]
Plateosaurus is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic Period, around 214-204 million years ago in what is now Central and Northern Europe. The type species is Plateosaurus trossingensis; before 2019, that honor was given to Plateosaurus engelhardti, but it was ruled as undiagnostic (i.e. indistinguishable from other dinosaurs) by the ICZN. Currently, there are three valid species; in addition to P. trossingensis, P. longiceps and P. gracilis are also known. However, others have been assigned in the past, and there is no broad consensus on the species taxonomy of plateosaurid dinosaurs. It was the fifth named dinosaur genus that is still considered valid.
Plateosaurus was a bipedal herbivore with a small skull on a long, flexible neck, sharp but plump plant-crushing teeth, powerful hind limbs, short but muscular arms and grasping hands with large claws on three fingers, possibly used for defense and feeding. Unusual for a dinosaur, Plateosaurus showed strong developmental plasticity: instead of having a fairly uniform adult size, fully grown individuals were between 4.8 and 10 meters (16 and 33 feet) long and weighed between 600 and 4,000 kilograms (1,300 and 8,800 pounds). Commonly, the animals lived for at least 12 to 20 years, but the maximum life span is not known.
Appearances[]
Fantasia[]
Plateosaurus appeared in The Rite of Spring segment as one of the dinosaurs running from the Tyrannosaurus rex when it attacks. Several Plateosaurus later appeared during the ending, where the dinosaurs are marching across the desert to escape the oncoming meteor.
Trivia[]
- Plateosaurus is apparently depicted eating clams in the film, according to their digging in the desert sand. However, in reality, Plateosaurus was a herbivore.
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