Tiny dinosaur on verge of swearing off meat

"They have these really long canine teeth, which don't look like the teeth of a plant eater," Porro, who worked with scientists from the Natural History Museum in London, said in a telephone interview.

"They almost look like little saber-toothed tiger teeth."

The first dinosaurs appeared about 230 million years ago, and the earliest known ones were meat eaters.

There were other plant-eating dinosaurs at the time of Heterodontosaurus including the long-necked sauropods. But this little creature was one of the earliest of the ornithischians that soon become very important in the Age of Dinosaurs.

Later ornithischians included the duck-billed dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs such as Triceratops and tank-like dinosaurs such as Ankylosaurus.

While adult Heterodontosaurus were turkey-sized creatures that reached just over three feet (1 meter) in length and weighed about five pounds (2.5 kg), the juvenile likely weighed less than half a pound (200 grams) and would have been just about a foot and a half long.

The find also offers a rare chance to compare a young dinosaur to adults in the species. Porro said the eyes in the juvenile skull are much bigger, and the nose is much shorter.

"It's the same things that makes puppies and kittens appealing," she said. "I think it's adorable."

(Editing by Will Dunham, Editing by Sandra Maler)