Arenysaurus is a type of dinosaur that lived a long time ago, about 66 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.
It is part of a group called hadrosaurs, known for their unique features, including hollow head crests. Arenysaurus is one of the last non-bird dinosaurs and disappeared around the time of a major event called the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.
The first fossils of Arenysaurus, including parts of its skull and skeleton, were discovered in a place called Arén in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain. The name “Arenysaurus” comes from this location, and the specific type of Arenysaurus was named in honor of a geologist named Lluís Ardèvol.
In terms of size, Arenysaurus was medium-sized. It grew to be about 5 to 6 meters long, which is around 16 to 20 feet, and it weighed around 1 ton.
The village of Arén, where the fossils were found, is small, with about 350 residents. The townspeople helped paleontologists—scientists who study fossils—during the excavation. Because of their hard work, the paleontologists dedicated the dig site to the village.
Today, you can see the original bones in a museum in Arén. This museum also has models and videos about the discovery of Arenysaurus. They even created a replica of the fossilized bones showing how they were found in the ground.
Arenysaurus is an important part of our understanding of dinosaurs from that time, and it helps us learn more about how these fascinating creatures lived.