Question 1

How do you say Compsognathus?

Accepted Answer

Compsognathus is pronounced komp-sog-NATH-us. Break it into four parts: KOMP, then SOG, then NATH, then US, with the stress landing on the NATH syllable. The G in the middle is a hard G, like in the word 'got.' Once you get it, it actually rolls off the tongue pretty smoothly for such a long name.

Question 2

What does Compsognathus mean?

Accepted Answer

The name Compsognathus comes from two Ancient Greek words: kompsos, meaning elegant or pretty, and gnathos, meaning jaw. So the full translation is pretty much 'elegant jaw' or 'pretty jaw.' German paleontologist Johann Andreas Wagner chose the name in 1859 because the skull of the first fossil had a slender, graceful look to it. The species name longipes is Latin for 'long feet,' referring to the dinosaur's notably long hind legs.

Question 3

How big was Compsognathus?

Accepted Answer

Compsognathus was about 4 feet long from nose to tail tip, but almost half of that length was its long, balancing tail. Its body alone was roughly the size of a chicken, and it weighed around 6.6 pounds, about as much as a large house cat. For a long time it was considered the smallest known non-bird dinosaur, though scientists have since found even smaller species like Microraptor.

Question 4

Was Compsognathus dangerous?

Accepted Answer

To a small lizard or insect, absolutely. To a human being, not particularly. Compsognathus weighed about as much as a large house cat and hunted small prey like lizards and possibly small fish. It had sharp, recurved teeth and surprising speed, but its size meant it was no threat to anything larger than itself. On its Jurassic island habitat, though, it was a top predator and a very effective one.

Question 5

When did Compsognathus live?

Accepted Answer

Compsognathus lived approximately 150 to 145 million years ago during the late Jurassic period, specifically in a time interval called the Tithonian Age. That is more than 66 million years before the mass extinction that wiped out the non-bird dinosaurs. It shared its world with other famous Jurassic animals, and interestingly, lived in the same time and place as Archaeopteryx, the famous early bird.

Question 6

Where was Compsognathus found?

Accepted Answer

Two Compsognathus fossils have been found. The first was discovered in the 1850s near Kelheim in Bavaria, southern Germany, preserved in the famous Solnhofen Limestone. The second was found in the 1970s near Canjuers in southeastern France. Both sites were shallow tropical island environments during the late Jurassic period, very different from what those regions look like today.

Question 7

Did Compsognathus have feathers?

Accepted Answer

No direct evidence of feathers has been found on Compsognathus fossils. The Solnhofen Limestone that preserved the German specimen is detailed enough to show soft tissue outlines, but no feather impressions appear. However, because Compsognathus was closely related to feathered dinosaurs and lived alongside Archaeopteryx, some scientists think it may have had at least some simple feather-like structures. Right now, the honest scientific answer is that we do not know for certain.

Question 8

What did Compsognathus eat?

Accepted Answer

We know for a fact that Compsognathus ate lizards, because the preserved bones of a small lizard called Bavarisaurus were found inside the stomach cavity of the German fossil specimen. Scientists classify it as a carnivore that ate small vertebrates. On its island habitat it likely also pursued insects, small fish near the shoreline, and possibly the eggs or hatchlings of other small animals.

Question 9

How fast could Compsognathus run?

Accepted Answer

Scientists estimate Compsognathus could sprint at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour in short bursts, which would make it one of the faster small dinosaurs known. Its long hind legs, lightweight hollow bones, and long balancing tail were all adaptations for speed and quick changes of direction. That speed was its main hunting tool, since it needed to catch fast-moving lizards to survive.

Question 10

Is Compsognathus in Jurassic Park?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Compsognathus appears in the 1997 film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, where a pack of them attacks a character on a beach. They are also called 'compys' in the film and the Michael Crichton novel it is based on. However, the movie exaggerates their behavior. Real Compsognathus were almost certainly solitary hunters chasing small lizards, not pack animals swarming large prey. Hollywood likes to dramatize, but the real animal was plenty fascinating without the extra drama.

Question 11

How many Compsognathus fossils exist?

Accepted Answer

Only two Compsognathus fossils are known to science. The first was found in Bavaria, Germany in the 1850s, and the second was discovered in France in the 1970s. Both are remarkably well preserved, which is fortunate given how rare small dinosaur fossils are. Small bones are fragile and far less likely to fossilize and survive millions of years than the massive bones of large dinosaurs.

Question 12

Was Compsognathus related to birds?

Accepted Answer

Yes, in an indirect but fascinating way. Compsognathus was a small theropod dinosaur, and birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs. It lived in the same time and place as Archaeopteryx, which is one of the earliest known bird-like animals. Compsognathus was not a direct ancestor of birds, but it was a close cousin on the theropod family tree, and studying it helps scientists understand how small, fast, agile theropods eventually gave rise to modern birds.

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