How Google Doodle celebrated one of the earliest dinosaurs ever discovered

Google's latest Doodle celebrates the discovery of Staurikosaurus fossils, an agile dinosaur from the Late Triassic period found in Brazil. Displayed globally including India, the Doodle includes a 7-slide slideshow on the discovery and a 3-slide clay creation presentation. The Staurikosaurus, notable for its unique features and evolutionary importance, was discovered by Llewellyn Ivor Prince in 1936.

Google Doodles are fun, temporary alterations of the Google logo on its homepage. They celebrate holidays, events, achievements, and notable figures from around the world. Recently, the Google celebrated the discovery of Staurikosaurus fossils – an agile dinosaur that lived in what is now Brazil during the Late Triassic period, about 230 million years ago – with a special Doodle.

What is the Google Doodle on Staurikosaurus all about The Doodle celebrated the Staurikosaurus on October 19 (Saturday), marking the day in 2010, when Alcober OA and Martinez RN published a silhouette reconstruction of the skeleton of the Staurikosaurus. This Doodle – which appeared in various countries in the world, including India – is in a slideshow format with 7 slides explaining the discovery of fossils of Staurikosaurus. Apart from a slideshow, Google has also shared a 3-slide presentation of how it created the Doodle in real life using clay.

During a dig in 1936, paleontologist Llewellyn Ivor Prince found a theropod (a carnivorous, bipedal dinosaur) specimen at the Santa Maria Formation in southern Brazil. Thanks to radiocarbon dating of sediments surrounding the fossil, during the late Triassic period, about 225 million years ago. Also called the “Southern Cross Lizard,” the dinosaur was named after the Southern Hemisphere constellation.

What makes Prince’s discovery so special is that it is the only evidence of the Staurikosaurus to date, so the knowledge of the species is limited. From the findings we have, the Staurikosaurus was large for an early dinosaur — it was around 2 meters long, 80 cm tall, and weighed 30 kg, which is close to the weight of a large dog. Staurikosaurus had a long tail and ran on two legs, and its fossils suggest that it was quite fast for its size.

The predator also had serrated teeth that were curved towards the back of its throat, which helped with catching and holding prey. Further, the discovery of Staurikosaurus has also helped paleontologists better understand the early evolution of dinosaurs ..