Haţeg

Infobox Settlement
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = ROU
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
map_caption = Location of Haţeg

|official_name=Haţeg
image_shield=Coa Hateg HD RO.png

subdivision_type1=County
subdivision_name1=Hunedoara County
subdivision_type2=Status
subdivision_name2=Autolink|Town
settlement_type=Town|
leader_title=Mayor
leader_name=Nicolae Timiş
|leader_party=National Liberal Party
area_total_km2=
population_as_of=2002
population_total=12507|latd=45|latm=36|lats=27|latNS=N|longd=22|longm=57|longs=0|longEW=E|
website=http://www.primaria-hateg.rdslink.ro/

Haţeg (pronunciation in Romanian: /'hɑː.tseɪɡ/; German: "Wallenthal"; Hungarian: "Hátszeg") is a town in Hunedoara County, Romania with a population of 12,507.

Ţara Haţegului (Hateg County) is the region around Haţeg town. The fossils found in Hateg County span over 300 million years of Earth's geologic history, showing tropical coral reefs and volcanic island in the Tethys Sea, dinosaurs, primitive mammals, birds, and flying reptiles (such as "Hatzegopteryx", which was named for the region).

The Haţeg Island was an island during the Cretaceous Period where a dwarf species of sauropod dinosaur, "Europasaurus holgeri", lived up to their extinction at the end of Cretaceous. Baron Franz Nopcsa, published articles about these Mesozoic era archosaurs on Haţeg Island. His studies led to his theory of insular dwarfism, the notion that "limited resources" on small islands can lead to a down-sizing of the indigenous vertebrate animals.

External links

* [http://www.dinodata.net/DNM/hateg.htm Haţeg dinosaurs]