Coelophysis

The first dinosaur

Around 227 million years ago, the first dinosaur, Coelophysis, appeared on the scene. Three metres in length, it was impressive, but not nearly as big as the giants that followed later, Allosaurus or Diplodocus.

The bones of this first representative of a highly successful species were partly hollow. Therefore, Coelophysis could walk upright on two legs despite its size. Coelophysis belonged to the theropod family, from which birds also evolved millions of years later.

Until the middle of the 20th century, little was known about this first dinosaur until hundreds of completely preserved Coelophysis skeletons were found in the Ghost Range quarry in the US state of New Mexico in 1947.

It was assumed that this was a Coelophysis herd that had fallen victim to either drought or sudden flooding. Some of the adult skeletons were found to have juvenile skeletons inside them.

The theory that these could be unborn young animals was quickly dropped. Firstly, this would have meant that Coelophysis would have given birth to its young alive like a mammal, which is highly unusual for a reptile.

And secondly, further investigations soon revealed the solution to the mystery: it was one of the not uncommon cases of animal cannibalism. The young animals had simply been eaten by adult Coelophysis.