Download FACT SHEET: desmatosuchus

FACT SHEET: desmatosuchus
NAME: DESMATOSUCHUS (des-mat-oh-SUE-kus) meaning: "link crocodile"
SIZE: 16 feet long
TYPE OF DIET: Herbivore (plants)
WHEN: Mid Triassic period (230 million years ago)
WHERE: Fossils found in Texas, USA, North America
Desmatosuchus lived at the very beginning of the dinosaur age, about 230 million years
ago. This creature looked a bit like a crocodile but it had sharp spikes running down its back. In
fact its name, Desmatosuchus, means "link crocodile". But Desmatosuchus was not a crocodile.
It was not even a true dinosaur. It was an ancient reptile called an aetosaur. It wasn’t a true
dinosaur because it was missing certain things: special bones in its back, a thumb, roller joints
and a large bone called a “tibia”. Many people still consider this creature to be a dinosaur,
however, because it looks like other dinosaurs living at the same time.
Desmatosuchus was the first of the armored creatures. This means that it had heavy bones
called plates along its back and sides for protection. The spikes along its back were useful against
predators who wanted to eat Desmatosuchus for food. The spikes on its shoulders were the
longest – up to 18 inches long. It had a short snout that looked a little like a bird’s beak. It had a
stout, heavy body with four short legs. It had a long tail. It grew to be about 14 feet long, which is
about the size of a minivan.
Desmatosuchus had weak, blunt teeth. Because of this we believe that it was an herbivore,
meaning that it ate plants. It was probably a slow-moving
creature that ate leaves and roots and plodded along
carefully under all the heavy plates and spikes. The first
Desmatosuchus bones were found in the southwestern
United States, in what is now the state of Texas.
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