Banji

Say it: BAN-jee

Name means: “striped crest dragon”1

Ate: A bit of everythingOdd feathered dinosLate Cretaceous

Banji was a small, feathered dinosaur that lived about 66 million years ago in what is now China. It had a tall, striped crest on its head and a beak like a parrot.1

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Jiangxi Province, China1

Food

A bit of everything2

Length

up to 0.65 m1

juvenile specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

as long as 4 bananas end to end

How big was Banji compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Banji's skull had a crest made of the nasal and premaxilla bones, with grooves and stripes on the sides.1

Its nostril opening was very long and followed the curve of the crest almost to the eye socket.1

The only known fossil is a nearly complete skull and lower jaw donated by an amateur collector.1

Banji lived during the Maastrichtian age, right before the mass extinction that ended the age of dinosaurs.2

Some scientists think Banji might be a young individual of another dinosaur called Corythoraptor.1

AI-made picture of Banji — An AI-made picture of how Banji 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 Banji

?How big was Banji?

Banji was small, about 65 cm (2.1 ft) long as a juvenile, which is the only size known from fossils.1

?What did Banji eat?

Banji was an omnivore, meaning it ate both plants and meat.3

?Did Banji have feathers?

Yes, Banji was a feathered dinosaur, like many other oviraptorids.1

?Is Banji a dinosaur?

Yes, Banji is a dinosaur. It was a small, feathered theropod from the oviraptorid family.1 4

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Banji
Named by: Xu and Han 20104
Group: Odd feathered dinos
Family / clade: Oviraptoridae4
Classification: Theropoda > Oviraptorosauria4
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Banji was named by Xu Xing and Feng-Lu Han in 2010. The fossil was found near Ganzhou, China, and donated to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Banji is a separate species or just a young Corythoraptor.1

Where the facts come from

Banji (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Banji Xu & Han 2010 data - Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org)
Banji 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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