Dino card No. 0788 of 2,027

Harpymimus

Say it: HAR-pee-MIME-us

Name means: “harpy mimic”1

Ate: A bit of everythingOstrich dinosEarly Cretaceous

Harpymimus was an early, ostrich-like dinosaur that ran on two long legs. Unlike its later relatives, it still had small teeth in its lower jaw to grab food. It lived in what is now Mongolia during the Early Cretaceous.2 1

Lived

110 to 100 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Mongolia3 1

Food

A bit of everything3 2

Length

2 m1

Weight

146.5 kg2

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 5 big dogs

as long as 4 house cats nose to tailas long as 11 bananas end to endas heavy as 29 watermelons

How big was Harpymimus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Harpymimus had about 11 small, blunt teeth only in its lower jaw, unlike later ostrich dinosaurs which had no teeth at all.2

Its name comes from the Harpies, scary bird monsters from Greek myths, and the Greek word for mimic.2

The only known skeleton is almost complete but was crushed flat, making some details hard to see.2

Harpymimus had a long neck, long arms with sharp claws, and long legs built for running.2

It lived alongside the horned dinosaur Psittacosaurus in the same region of Mongolia.2

Scientists think Harpymimus was an early member of the group that includes the giant-clawed Deinocheirus.2

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

?How big was Harpymimus?

About 2 metres (6.6 feet) long and weighed over 146.5 kilograms (323 pounds).1 2

?What did Harpymimus eat?

It was omnivorous. Its small, blunt teeth and beak were used for grabbing and holding food, not cutting or piercing.1 2

?Did Harpymimus have feathers?

The sources do not mention feathers, but as a theropod dinosaur related to birds, it may have had simple feathers. No direct evidence has been found.2

?When did Harpymimus live?

It lived during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 121 to 99 million years ago.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Harpymimus
Named by: Barsbold and Perle 19843
Group: Ostrich dinos
Family / clade: Deinocheiridae3
Classification: Theropoda > Ornithomimosauria3
Age of the rocks: 110 to 100 million years (Albian)3
Rock formations: Khuren Dukh3
Countries: Mongolia3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: A Soviet-Mongolian expedition found the skeleton in the Gobi Desert in 1981. In 1984, paleontologists Rinchen Barsbold and Altangerel Perle named it Harpymimus okladnikovi after the archaeologist Alexey Okladnikov.2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Harpymimus used its small teeth, since they were too blunt for cutting meat or plants.2

Where the facts come from

Harpymimus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Harpymimus (en.wikipedia.org)
Harpymimus 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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