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Khaan

Say it: KAHN
Name means: “ruler”1
Ate: A bit of everythingOdd feathered dinosLate Cretaceous

Khaan was a small, bird-like dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia. It had a beak instead of teeth and was covered in feathers, making it look a bit like a strange bird.12

Lived
84 to 72 million years ago5
Late Cretaceous
Fossils found in
Mongolia15
Food
A bit of everything51
Length
1.8 m1
Top speed
about 43 km/h (27 mph)
Running, estimate

When did it live?

Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

Khaan about 1.8 m longA dog about 1 mA bicycle about 1.8 mA car about 4.5 m
as long as 4 house cats nose to tailas long as 10 bananas end to end

How big was Khaan compared to YOU?

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How fast was it?

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Fun facts

1

Khaan is known from three nearly complete skeletons, including skulls, which is very rare for dinosaurs.1

2

It belonged to a group called oviraptorosaurs, which had short, toothless beaks like parrots.2

3

Khaan lived about 81 to 75 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1

4

Its fossils were found in the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia, a famous area for dinosaur discoveries.5

5

Khaan had a very light, air-filled skull, similar to modern birds, which helped reduce its weight.2

6

Unlike some of its relatives, Khaan did not have a crest on its head.2

AI-madeAI-made picture of Khaan
An AI-made picture of how Khaan 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 Khaan

?How big was Khaan?

About 1.8 metres (6 feet) long, though some specimens reached 2.7 metres (9 feet). It was a small dinosaur, about the size of a large dog.13

?Did Khaan have feathers?

Yes, like other oviraptorids, Khaan was probably feathered. It likely had a fan of display feathers on its tail.43

?What did Khaan eat?

Khaan was omnivorous, eating plants, small animals like lizards and mammals, and possibly molluscs. It had a very strong bite for tough food.14

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Scientific name
Khaan
Named by
Clark et al. 20015
Group
Odd feathered dinos
Family / clade
Oviraptoridae5
Classification
Theropoda > Oviraptorosauria5
Age of the rocks
84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
Rock formations
Djadokhta5
Countries
Mongolia5
Fossil records
2 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery
Khaan was named in 2001 by scientists Clark, Norell, and Barsbold based on fossils from Mongolia.15
Still debated
Scientists are still debating exactly how Khaan is related to other oviraptorosaurs, and whether it belongs in a group called Heyuanninae.5

Where the facts come from

  1. Khaan (nhm.ac.uk)
  2. Osteology of Khaan mckennai (Oviraptorosauria, Theropoda). (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 372) (digitallibrary.amnh.org)
  3. Khaan - Thomas Henry Huxley Paleozoological Gardens (hpz.zhejiangopterus.org)
  4. Khaan (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
  5. Khaan 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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