Living: The Psittacosaurus looked a lot like the Ornithopod Hypsilophodon, but it had a bigger and longer body, a shorter tail, longer arms and four-fingered hands. The fourth finger and the first of the four toes were very short. But the most remarkable about the Psittacosaurus, was its head. Just like a parrot, it was short but tall, and with a beak pointing downwards. The Ceratopsia-characteristics on this dinosaur were the pointing cheekbones and a faint border, warning about its enormous neck-collar. There were at least four species of Psittacosaurus. The only known relative in the family is the Psittacosauridae. This dinosaur walked and ran on its hind legs. When it stood upright, it might have used its hands to pull the branched down to its mouth. Sometimes it might have walked on all four legs and supported itself on the long and strong arms, while the strong jaws cut through rough leaves. As the hands, the Psittacosaurs toes were also equipped with short claws. Without the pointy horns and the great collar, a threatened Psittacosaurus had the choices of hiding itself from the predators or run away. We know that the Psittacosaurs' "babies" were of the size of our time smaller birds from two fossils found in Russia.
Skeleton: It was an Ornithopod-like dinosaur with a relatively long tail, holding the body in balance, strong arms, four-fingered wide hands, hind legs with longer shinbones than thighs and four-toed wide feet. With exception of all Ornithopods, this dinosaur had a short and tall nose with a parrot-like beak.
Equal to parrots: The dinosaur-family Psittacosauridae got its name because of the similarities between the skull on a Psittacosaurus and the head on a macaw, a cockatoo or another member of the Psittacidae-family, which is the name of the parrot-family. The parrot developed high and sharp beaks to cut through tough fruits and to crack nuts. The Psittacosaurus was with its high and sharp beak capable of chewing rough leaves.
