Dino card No. 0212 of 2,027

Aviatyrannis

Say it: AY-vee-ah-tih-RAN-iss

Name means: “tyrant's grandmother”1

Ate: A bit of everythingOstrich dinosLate Jurassic

Aviatyrannis was a small, fast dinosaur that lived about 155 million years ago. It might have looked a bit like an ostrich, with long legs and a light body. Scientists are still figuring out exactly what kind of dinosaur it was.1

Lived

155 to 149 million years ago2

Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Portugal, in the Alcobaça Formation1

Food

A bit of everything2

Length

1 m1

estimate, possibly a juvenile

Weight

4 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1 house cats

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to endabout as heavy as a house catas heavy as 33 bananas

How big was Aviatyrannis compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Aviatyrannis is one of the oldest tyrannosauroids ever found, if it really is one. Only Proceratosaurus might be older.1

The first fossil found was just a hip bone, only 90 millimetres long. That is shorter than a pencil.1

Its teeth had D-shaped cross-sections in the front of the mouth, and the back teeth were curved only near the top.1

Some scientists think Aviatyrannis might actually be an early ostrich-like dinosaur, not a tyrannosaur. A 2023 study found its hip bone looks a lot like that of a dinosaur called Tyrannomimus.1

The name means 'tyrant's grandmother', because it lived long before the famous Tyrannosaurus rex.1

AI-made picture of Aviatyrannis — An AI-made picture of how Aviatyrannis 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.

you asked

Most asked questions about Aviatyrannis

?How big was Aviatyrannis?

It was small. In 2016, Gregory S. Paul estimated it was about 1 metre (3.3 feet) long and weighed about 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds).1

?Was Aviatyrannis a dinosaur?

Yes, it was a small tyrannosauroid dinosaur that lived about 155 million years ago in what is now Portugal.1

?Why is it called Aviatyrannis?

The name means 'tyrant's grandmother' because it lived long before the famous Tyrannosaurus rex.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Aviatyrannis was a giant predator like Tyrannosaurus rex.

Truth: It was actually very small, only about 1 metre long and 4 kilograms, and it might have eaten plants too.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Aviatyrannis
Named by: Rauhut 20032
Group: Ostrich dinos
Family / clade: Ornithomimosauria2
Classification: Theropoda > Ornithomimosauria2
Age of the rocks: 155 to 149 million years (Kimmeridgian)2
Rock formations: Alcobaça2
Countries: Portugal2
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Oliver Rauhut found the first bones in a coal mine in Portugal in 2000 and named Aviatyrannis in 2003. The main fossil is a right hip bone.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Aviatyrannis was a tyrannosaur or an ostrich-like dinosaur. A 2023 study suggests it might be an early ornithomimosaur.1

Where the facts come from

Aviatyrannis (en.wikipedia.org)
Aviatyrannis 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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