Mussaurus

dinosaur · Argentina · sauropodomorph · Early Jurassic

Started tiny. Mussaurus means 'mouse lizard' because scientists first found only baby and infant skeletons that were super small. The name stuck even after they discovered that adults grew much, much larger.

Herbivore dinosaur. Mussaurus ate only plants and belonged to a group called sauropodomorphs, which were the ancestors of the really enormous long-necked dinosaurs that came later.

Argentine home. These dinosaurs lived in southern Argentina during the Early Jurassic period, a time when the continents looked very different than they do today.

Growing giants. Baby Mussaurus were tiny, but as they grew up they became much larger sauropodomorphs, showing how dramatically dinosaurs could change size as they got older.