Type Species: Turiasaurus riodevensis
Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Sauropoda - Gravisauria – Eusauropoda – Turiasauria
Time Period: Late Jurassic
Location: Europe (Spain)
Diet: Herbivore
Turiasaurus was the largest land animal ever known to have lived in Europe. It was one hundred feet long – the length of ten cars! – and weighed as much as eight elephants. Its upper forearm bone was the length of a human adult, and it bore a sickening thumb claw the size of a rugby ball. Its vertebrae suggest that it had a row of spikes or at least a ridge running down its back. Its skull was less than thirty inches long; scientists believe a larger skull would’ve put too much pressure on the neck at the risk of snapping it. Turiasaurus thundered through the wooded islands of what is now eastern Spain, eating tough plant matter like leaves, stems, and shoots. Its teeth were heart-shaped and covered in a wrinkled enamel that would’ve helped it grind up tough plant matter.
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