Alvarezsaurus

dinosaur · argentina · cretaceous · tiny

Pocket-sized dinosaur. Alvarezsaurus was only about 3 to 4.5 feet long and weighed around 6.6 pounds, making it one of the tiniest dinosaurs that ever lived.

Ancient Argentine resident. This little dinosaur roamed Argentina during the Late Cretaceous period, roughly 86 to 83 million years ago, long before dinosaurs went extinct.

Fossil discovery spot. Scientists found the remains of Alvarezsaurus in the Bajo de la Carpa Formation in Argentina, which is now an important place for studying dinosaurs from that time period.

Named with honor. Paleontologist José Bonaparte named this dinosaur in 1991 after a historian named Don Gregorio Alvarez to pay respect to his work.

Bird-like features. Alvarezsaurus belonged to a special group of dinosaurs called alvarezsaurids that had many features similar to birds, like hollow bones and powerful arms.