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Ambiortus

Say it: am-bee-OR-tus

Ate: MeatEarly birdsEarly Cretaceous

Ambiortus was an early bird that lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago. It was a meat-eater that walked on the ground and probably used its wings to fly short distances.3 1

Lived

133 to 121 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Mongolia (Ovorkhangai), in the Andaikhudag Formation3 1

Food

Meat3

Length

0.1 to 1 m2

estimated from PBDB adult length category 10 to <100 cm

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to end

How big was Ambiortus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Ambiortus is known from only one fossil site in Mongolia, called Khurilt Ulaan Bulag.3

It lived during the Barremian age, between about 136 and 125 million years ago.1

Scientists are not sure exactly where Ambiortus fits in the bird family tree. Some think it is closely related to modern birds, while others place it closer to more primitive groups.1

The only species in this genus is Ambiortus dementjevi, named by Russian paleontologist Yevgeny Kurochkin in 1982.1

Ambiortus was a ground-dwelling bird, according to the Paleobiology Database.3

AI-made picture of Ambiortus — An AI-made picture of how Ambiortus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Ambiortus
Named by: Kurochkin 19823
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Ornithuromorpha3
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae3
Age of the rocks: 133 to 121 million years (Hauterivian / Barremian)3
Rock formations: Andaikhudag3
Countries: Mongolia3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Ambiortus was discovered and named by Russian paleontologist Yevgeny Kurochkin in 1982, based on fossils found in the Andaikhudag Formation of Mongolia.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Ambiortus is more closely related to modern birds or to earlier bird groups like the Ichthyornithes.1

Where the facts come from

Ambiortus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Ambiortus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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