NAME

Meaning - Cryolophosaurus means “frozen-crested lizard”
Pronounced - cry-o-LOF-o-SAWR-us
Named By - William R. Hammer and William J. Hickerson
When Named - 1994
DIET

Carnivore (meat-eater) - it ate plant-eating dinosaurs, like prosauropods
SIZE

Length - 20 ft (6 m) long
Height - 5 ft (1.5 m) tall at the hips
Weight - 1,160 pounds (525 kg)
WHEN IT LIVED

Early Jurassic period, about 196-190 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Antarctica.
FOSSILS

A partial fossil was found, including a partial skull.
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 Theropoda - bipedal carnivores
  • Tetanura - advanced theropods with three fingers
  • Family Carnosauria - (Cryolophosaurus is the oldest-known carnosaur)
  • Genus Cryolophosaurus
  • Species C. elliotti (type species named by Hammer and Hickerson, 1994)
INTERESTING FACTS

Cryolophosaurus had a forward-facing crest on its head. It is also known (informally) as Elvisaurus, due to the crest’s likeness to Elvis Presley’s hairdo. The Antarctic, where Cryolophosaurus was found, was warmer when Cryolophosaurus lived than it is now - during the Jurassic period, the Antarctic was closer to the equator and part of a larger continent - plus, the climate in general was warmer.