Chinese Dinosaurs - Psittacosaurus sinensis

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Psittacosaurus sinensis

Pronounced 'si-ta-koh-saw-rus sine-en-sis'

Artist: James Reece

Psittacosaurus sinensis was a small, herbivorous dinosaur which lived around 110 million years ago. It is the most primitive known ceratopsian dinosaur.

Psittacosaurus sinensis had:

a curved, parrot-like beak that helped it to pry open fruits and seeds;
a cutting beak and self-sharpening cheek teeth that enabled it to grind up tough vegetation and fruits;
short forelegs that it used for grasping foliage.

Psittacosaurus sinensis was named after the Latin word for parrot, Psittacus, as it had a parot-like beak.

Psittacosaurus sinensis was a primitive horned dinosaur or ceratopsian. It belonged to the Asian family Psittacosauridae, several species of which lived during the Early Cretaceous.