Compsognathus dinosaur. Computer artwork of a Compsognathus longipes dinosaur eating a small lizard found amongst mushrooms on a forest floor. Compsognathus was a carnivorous, bipedal dinosaur about the size of a chicken that lived during the late Jurassic period (between 155 and 145 million years ago). Fossils of Compsognathus have been found in Germany and France.