Coelophysis

Coelophysis was a theropod dinosaur that lived at the end of the Triassic Period. It was a small thin dinosaur and was only about 3 metres long. It had hollow bones so it would have been quite light. Coelophysis had a long neck and tail, and quite long head. It had good eyesight, with eyes pointing forward. It had sharp serrated teeth.

It isn’t 100% known if Coelophysis had feathers or not. Some people believe they did have them, like some other theropod dinosaurs, but there is no solid evidence either way.

Coelophysis walked on its back legs and had much smaller arms. They had three main claws and another claw further up. They would have used its arms for grabbing its prey but they weren’t overly strong. It would have been a fast runner, useful when trying to catch its prey!

It is believed Coelophysis lived and hunted in packs, based on fossils that have been found close together. It was a carnivore which meant it was a meat eating dinosaur and ate small creatures, such as small reptiles.

Lots of fossils of Coelophysis have been found, giving palaeontologists a really good idea of what they looked like and how they lived. The fossils were found in New Mexico mainly and a few other places that is now North America. Other fossils, thought to be Coelophysis bones have also been found in South Africa.

For a while, it was thought that Coelophysis were cannibals (which means it was thought they ate other Coelophysis dinosaurs). This was because a fossil was found with what looked like Coelophysis bones in its stomach. However, now it is believed this is not true and actually the bones were of a small crocodile type creature. Palaeontologists no longer believe Coelophysis dinosaurs ate each other!