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They lived around 200 million years ago,

during the Jurassic period, found in Africa and North America.

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The Massospondylus was discovered by Sir

Richard Owen in 1854 from the remains found

in South Africa.

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The Massospondylus dinosaurs lived during the Jurassic Park period in Africa and was discovered in Upper Elliot Formation, Harrismith, South Africa. Some species were also found in North America.

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The Massospondylus dinosaur was a herbivore, which is a plant eater.

Massospondylus' small head and long sharp teeth suggested that this animal may have actually been a meat-eater. However, more recent evidence seems to support that Massospondylus was in fact a plant-eater.

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Massospondylus fossils show that the species had a diet of plants; its lower tooth row was shorter than its upper one, and its jaws and teeth are like those of herbivores.

The dinosaur might also have had a beak to help cut vegetation before eating it. More evidence of the Massospondylus' vegetarian diet was found in South Africa. Rounded stones were discovered near some of the specimens' ribcages.

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Because the Massospondylus was really small, it usually went to its relatives for protection. But when it was in an open area, it could be seen by lots of other dinosaurs like the Stegosaurus or the Styracosaurus, which were dinosaurs who usually ate smaller dinosaurs. The main predators of the Massospondylus was the Austroraptors and the Allosaurus.

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However the Massospondylus did have some protection against their predators in the form of its thumb claws. When a group of Massospondylus was threatened by predators, they banded together, waved their thumb claws together and imitated the predator. However, they only acted like this towards smaller predators. Usually, if it was a big one, individual Massospondylus’ preferred to flee if it was possible.

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The Massospondylus was 16.5 ft long (5m),

and 3 ft tall. It had a long neck, a long tail, a small head, peg-like teeth, and large five-fingered hands with large and sharp five claws. Massospondylus may have been able to use its hand for grasping in addition to walking. Its back legs were only a little bit bigger than its front legs. It weighed around

770 ponds, at a full grown adult.

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Half of the Massospondylus’ body was its tail.

The name Massospondylus means "huge backbone.“

It weighed 1.5 tons.

Massospondylus swallowed pebbles and small stones to help in the digestion of the tough leaves and other plant material that it ate.

A nest of six small eggs were found in Africa, with embryos inside it, and it may have belonged to the Massospondylus.

A Massospondylus was a prosauropod, which was plant eating dinosaurs before the Jurassic period, and they all had long necks, long tails, and a small head.

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