NAME

Meaning - Cetiosaurus means “whale-like lizard”
Pronounced - see-TIE-o-SAWR-us
Named By - Richard Owen
When Named - 1842
DIET

Herbivore (plant-eater)
SIZE

Length - 50-53 feet (15-16 m) long
Height - roughly 10 ft (3 m) tall at the hips
Weight - 24800 kg
WHEN IT LIVED

Middle Jurassic period, about 181-169 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in England, Europe and perhaps Morocco, Africa.
FOSSILS

Cetiosaurus is known from partial skeletons.
CLASSIFICATION
  • 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 Sauropoda - large, long-necked, quadrupedal herbivores
  • Genus Cetiosaurus
  • Species C. medius (type species named by Owen, 1842)
INTERESTING FACTS

Cetiosaurus was a huge, long-necked, long-tailed dinosaur with a tiny head and a bulky body; it walked on four legs. Cetiosaurus probably lived near the water. This dinosaur was originally thought to be a crocodile-like animal. It was called “whale-like lizard” because its back vertebrae had a coarse texture (like that of whales).