March 14, 2008

Compsog what?


Evan's 2nd grade did their dinosaur program a couple weeks ago. It was fabulous! The kids all were assigned a dinosaur to research, they built a diorama, and they had a singing program. Evan even shook his dinosaur tail during the Dinosaur Dance. Now that was hysterical! Imagine the entire stage of 2nd graders singing at the top of their lungs and the suddenly turning around and shaking their badonkadonks at you. I was so upset I'd left the video home! Being all boy, the first question Evan asked when it was all over was whether he could smash his dinosaur. Poor Compy!

Evan did a rap during the program - I'd heard him practicing in the bathroom (see my earlier rocker post), but I didn't know what it was for. Hunh. Here are the words:

I'm a Raptor
doing what I can
Gonna eat everything
'til the appearance of man
You will see me -
I'm living below the soil
I'll be back,
But I'm coming as oil!

Evan's report is included below:



My dinosaur is named Compsognathus, or “Compy” for short. The name means petite, dainty, pretty or elegant jaw. I think the jaw is small compared to other dinosaurs, but I don’t think it’s very elegant or pretty.

Compy was a meat eater and ate things such as lizards and insects. Fossilized remains from a Compsognathus’ stomach contained the skeleton of a very fast lizard. Its front teeth were smooth, but the teeth at the back of its jaw were jagged. Since the skeleton in Compy’s stomach was whole, some scientists think it didn’t chew its food.

Compy lived during the late Jurassic period about 150 million years ago.

Compy walked on two feet. It had long, thin legs, and three toes on each foot. Its long tail helped it keep its balance during quick turns – such as escaping from other dinosaurs.

Fossils of this small, chicken-like dinosaur have been found in Germany and France. The fossil in Germany was found during the 1850s. The fossil in France was discovered in 1972. The German fossil had two fingers on each hand. The French fossil had 3 fingers on each hand. Compy’s German fossil was the first reasonably complete dinosaur fossil ever found.

Compy was approximately 10 inches tall at the hip. Its length ranged from just over 2 feet to over 4 ½ feet. It weighed about 6 ½ pounds.

I think Compy protected itself by running very quickly and by being smaller than most other dinosaurs.


The makers of the movie Jurassic Park made Compy appear to hunt in packs and overwhelm human-sized prey because of the number of Compies in each pack. There is no scientific evidence that Compy behaved like this in real life.

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