Khankhuuluu
Khankhuuluu was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia, about 100 to 84 million years ago. It was a cousin of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex, but it was smaller and more lightly built. Scientists think it helps show how big tyrannosaurs evolved from smaller ancestors.15
When did it live?
Fun facts
Khankhuuluu is known from fossils found in rocks that are between 100.5 and 83.6 million years old, from the Cenomanian to Santonian ages.5
Scientists think Khankhuuluu was a close relative of the group that includes Tyrannosaurus rex, but it lived earlier and was not as big.1
Khankhuuluu had a shallow skull and a gracile, or slender, build, similar to some young tyrannosaurs. This suggests it kept some baby-like features into adulthood.1
The discovery of Khankhuuluu helped scientists figure out that tyrannosaurs moved from Asia to North America and then later came back to Asia.1
Khankhuuluu is the only species in its genus, and its full scientific name is Khankhuuluu mongoliensis.5
Most asked questions about Khankhuuluu
?How big was Khankhuuluu?
About 4 metres (13 feet) long and 750 kilograms (1,650 pounds), roughly the size of a horse.23
?Was Khankhuuluu a dinosaur?
Yes, it was a meat-eating dinosaur called a tyrannosauroid.4
?When did Khankhuuluu live?
It lived about 86 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period.2
?What did Khankhuuluu eat?
It was a meat eater that hunted smaller prey using speed and ambush.3
?Could Khankhuuluu crush bones like T. rex?
No, its long, shallow skull shows it could not crunch through bone the way T. rex could.3
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Khankhuuluu
- Named by
- Voris et al. 20255
- Group
- Tyrannosaurs
- Family / clade
- Tyrannosauroidea5
- Classification
- Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea5
- Age of the rocks
- 100 to 84 million years (Cenomanian / Santonian)5
- Rock formations
- Baynshire5
- Countries
- Mongolia5
- Fossil records
- 2 in the Paleobiology Database5
- Discovery
- Khankhuuluu was named by a team of scientists in 2025. The fossils were found in Mongolia and are stored at the Institute of Paleontology in Ulaanbaatar.15
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly how Khankhuuluu is related to other tyrannosaurs, and whether some features it shares with later tyrannosaurs were inherited or evolved separately.1
Where the facts come from
- A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria | Nature (nature.com)
- Mongolia's 'Dragon Prince' dinosaur was forerunner of T. rex (reuters.com)
- UCalgary paleontologists identify closest known ancestor of tyrannosaurs | News | University of Calgary (ucalgary.ca)
- Khankhuuluu (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
- Khankhuuluu in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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