Scelidosaurus

< Back to the Local Fossils album
Pronounced – Skelll-id-oh-saw-rus
Meaning of name – ‘Limb-lizard’
Group – Dinosaur, Reptile
Age – Lower Jurassic, around 195 million years old

Scelidosaurus is the best preserved and most complete dinosaur found so far in Britain. It is only found here at Charmouth and nowhere else in the world. It was a heavily armoured plant eating dinosaur, which was related to ankylosaurs and stegosaurs and lived near the ancient shores of what is now ‘England’.

Scientists think that a herd of these dinosaurs were washed out to sea and drowned. The Centre has a life size cast of the most complete Scelidosaur found to date and new display all about these amazing dinosaurs.

Also check out our Facebook page for recent finds and news from the Centre.

Artist's impression of a Scelidosaur

Image 3 of 3

This is an artist's impression of a Scelidosaur alive in the Jurassic. You can see the rows of armoured plating which it used as defence from meat eating dinosaurs.