Camptosaurus is a camptosaurid ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of the United States of America. It was officially named in 1885 by Othniel Charles Marsh. It was once called "Camptonotus" (right before being renamed to Camptosaurus due to "Camptonotus" already being occupied by a leaf-rolling cricket), and it was a wastebasket taxon, as many other ornithopods once considered to be species of Camptosaurus have become their own genera.
Physiology[]
Camptosaurus was a bipedal ornithopod with a semi-bulky body, long forelimbs, long, muscular hindlimbs, a moderately long tail, and a large head with a small beak in front of its mouth. Its body would have been covered in scaly skin.
Diet[]
Camptosaurus was an herbivore, feeding on leaves, horsetails, cycads, and conifers. Its round beak was used to strip leaves off branches, while the many teeth in the back of its mouth would grind together, processing the leaves.
Ecology[]
As a primitive ornithopod, Camptosaurus was primarily bipedal; due to this as well as its heavy build, it would not have been a very fast and agile runner, although it may have been capable of achieving short bursts of speed to escape predators. As well as this, its forelimbs were able to bear weight, allowing us to assume that it would have went down on all fours when foraging for food. Along with this, it had a large amount of teeth in the back of its jaws, all of which were more developed than those of more primitive ornithopods like Dryosaurus. Adding onto the fact that they all exhibit wear marks, they tell us that Camptosaurus was able to throroughly chew its food, and may have focused on hard vegetation.
In popular culture[]
Camptosaurus was featured in the 4th episode of the 2011 documentary Planet Dinosaur, where it is shown as a social herbivore that forms mutualistic relationships with Stegosaurus; in these relationships, the Camptosaurus act as sentries and alarm the rest of the herd about predators like Allosaurus, while the Stegosaurus act as defenses and fend off the marauding theropods. When it is by itself, it uses speed alone to flee from the Allosaurus.