Robin's Great Coloring Pages: Plateosaurus the Prosauropod

Plateosaurus Mother and Calves

Plateosaurus was an early dinosaur. It lived in the Triassic Period 214-204 million years ago. The Triassic Period was the first period of the Mesozoic Era. Dinosaurs first appeared and evolved into different types in the Triassic Period. The Plateosaurus was what is called a Prosauropod. If it helps you. . . think of it as a PREsauropod. Prosauropods were the ancestors to the more well known Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus), Argentinosaurus, Patagotitan, and etc. Sauropods were the biggest animals to ever walk on land. They had long necks and tree trunk like legs. They were herbivores (they ate plants) and probably had to eat at least 100 lbs or 45 kilos of plant matter per day. They grew fast and some were approaching 70 tons in weight. Some were around 130 feet or 30.5 meters long. Some were 60 feet or 18 meters tall.

The Prosauropods were smaller of course. They were the first long neck dinosaurs. Plateosaurus could be as long as 33 feet or 10 meters. They weighed about 8,800 lbs or 4.4 tons. They probably could walk on all four legs but they clearly were also bipedal. That means they could walk on two legs.

Plateosaurus was discovered in Germany by a physician named Johann F. Engalhardt. The vertebrae he discovered were near Nuremberg Germany. Since then over 100 specimens have been found in several parts of Europe.

There is some evidence that these huge dinosaurs laid their eggs and abandoned them. The young would have been hatching among many other nests and they would have a mad dash to the nearby forest for cover. . . kind of like baby sea turtles rushing for the water after hatching on the beach. Eventually as a sub-adult or perhaps adolescent animal the offspring would join the herd.
There are several very unusual trees and other plants in this drawing of Plateosaurus. They are all some of the weird plants that lived in the Triassic Period. I have not drawn some of these before. Make a point to check them out.

The below are older drawings of Sauropods that evolved from Prosauruopods like Plateosaurus. These older drawings are further up the lists of printable pages to color at home. Click on the buttons at the top of the blog. The drawing of Plateosaurus is new so it is at the bottom of the list labeled Paleontology and the list of All Printables.