Location : South Africa

Heterodontosaurus is a small plant-eater that appeared shortly after the beginning of the Jurassic Period. What made it different from the other plant-eaters is that it had more than one kind of tooth. It had small, sharp teeth on the upper portion of the front part of its mouth that looked like small tusks, and kind of a beak on the bottom. Its back teeth were used for cutting up food before it was swallowed. Like the other early dinosaurs, it was speedy and ran on its hind legs.

There is some speculation that the larger canine teeth on this small dinosaur may have been used as a kind of display, possibly for courtship. It is interesting to note that this early dinosaur was found in South Africa, which was close to the South American regions where the Late Triassic early dinosaurs were first discovered. This creature is not thought to have lived in the western hemisphere and may have developed from eastward-migrating early dinosaurs.