Page 39 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

south america
Valley of the Moon

3 ! . Some of the world’S oldeSt dinoSaurS are found in the Ischigualasto
* 5 ! . )SCHIGUALASTO National Park of northwestern Argentina, an area also known as the
.ATIONAL 0ARK Valley of the Moon. A deposit of sandstones and mudstones,
.UF $PSSBMJUPT 6ALLEY OF THE -OON
GU it formed about 225 million years ago, when the region was a
N
3AN *UAN lush floodplain at the edge of the Pangaea supercontinent.
Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus and other early dinosaurs lived in the
4JFSSB 5POUBM
$FSSP $JFMP Late Triassic warm environment. Today, the
GU N 3 ! .
, 5 ) 3 landscape is a dry and barren desert.
- % . $ / : !
-ENDOZA

u site location
Ischigualasto
National Park covers
156,000 acres
(63,000 hectares).

stauriKosaurus
A lightweight carnivore, Staurikosaurus was
an agile hunter. It had a long tail, grasping
hands with sharp claws, and many small,
biting teeth set into its long jaws.

scorpion
These scorpions thrived in the
warmth and were part of the food
chain for the region’s carnivores.

horsetails
Tall, straight horsetails
thrived in the damp
millipede conditions. With jointed
stems and short leaves,
Giant millipedes, some up to these plants were a
5 ft (1.5 m) long, snaked their vital source of food did you know?
way through the forest.
for herbivores.
. Herrerasaurus was named
after Victorino Herrera, an
Argentinian farmer who
discovered it in 1958.

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