DIET
Compsognathus was a carnivore (a meat eater) that caught and ate small animals, including insects and lizards. John Ostrom found fossilized remains from a Compsognathus' stomach that contained the skeleton of the fast-running lizard Bavarisaurus.

LOCOMOTION
Compsognathus walked on two long, slender legs; it was a fast, agile dinosaur. Dinosaur speeds are estimated using their morphology (characteristics like leg length and estimated body mass) and fossilized trackways.

DISCOVERY OF FOSSILS
Compsognathus was first discovered by Dr. Oberndorfer in limestone deposits in the Riedenburg-Kelheim region of Bavaria, southern Germany in the late 1850's. It was named by Johann A. Wagner in 1859. Only two Compsognathus fossils have been found; one in Germany and one in France.

CLASSIFICATION
Compsognathus belonged to the:

• Kingdom Animalia (animals)
• Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
• Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
• Order Saurischia - lizard-hipped dinosaurs
• Suborder Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
• Infraorder Coelurosauria - lightly-built fast-running predators with hollow bones and large brains
• Superfamily Maniraptoriformes - advanced coelurosaurs with a fused wrist bone
• Family Compsognathidae - small, with small, pointed heads, two-fingered hands, and flexible necks
• Genus Compsognathus
• Species C. longipes (the type species).

• A Compsognathus fact sheet - or a printable version.
• A Compsognathus printout.
• Print out a K-3 level Compsognathus info page to color!
• 10 questions about Compsognathus, a Find It! quiz to print out.
• A first-grade level Compsognathus addition activity print-out.
• A Compsognathus word hunt activity - For second and third graders.
• A quiz about Compsognathus - Unscramble the words and see how much you know about this tiny dinosaur! For grades 2-3.