Today’s animal we’re looking at you’ve probably heard of, or
perhaps not. Most dinosaur encylopedias and other comprehensive works mention
it, but it’s not in any museums outside its home, and it hasn’t made a single appearance
on big or TV screens. No toys, no
dedicated books, only a small bit of art for it. It seems that while the large
weird dinosaurs attract a great deal of attention, the smaller ones, even more
bizarre, do not. There’s a whole plethora of small but striking animals, but
we’re looking at one in particular from an obscure location that is absolutely
unique.
Perhaps besides its size (only 3 feet, the size of a small
dog) and its location (South
Africa), its very name makes it so obscure.
While Triceratops, Apatosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus are 4-5 syllable
monstrosities, Heterodontosaurus has a whopping 7 syllables and 18 letters, not
counting the rather small and bland species name tucki. The name, however, says a great deal on why
this dinosaur is so significant. It is in Greek, of course, meaning roughly
“Lizard with different types of teeth”
