Juravenator

Type Species: Juravenator starki 

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Theropoda – Tetanurae – Coelurosauria – Tyrannoraptora – Compsognathidae   

Time Period: Late Jurassic 

Location: Europe 

Diet: Carnivore

The small bipedal theropod Juravenator lived among the large islands and archipelagos of prehistoric France and Germany. During the Late Jurassic, much of modern western Europe was submerged by the Oxford Sea and shallow sea armlets of the Tethys Sea that were ringed with coral reefs. Emerging from this vast spider-web network of waterways were dry, forested islands cut by streams and lagoons. These islands catered to smaller terrestrial organisms: lizards, mammals, and a number of small-fry dinosaurs, Juravenator among them. This theropod lived alongside its larger cousin Compsognathus, the squirrel-like theropod Sciurumimus, and a number of paravians, such as Ostromia, Wellnhoferia, Alcmonavis, and of course the infamous Archaeopteryx. Juravenator is known from a single juvenile specimen that was twenty-nine inches head-to-tail. This fleet-footed hunter likely preyed on lizards, mammals, and insects. The scleral rings of Juravenator resemble those of nocturnal birds, suggesting that it was a night-time hunter (but some believe these scleral rings are due to the fact that it was a juvenile and that adults would’ve been daytime hunters). A patch of Juravenator’s skin shows dinosaur scales as well as traces of proto-feathers.