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Kunpengornis

Say it: KUN-peng-OR-nis

Name means: “Kunpeng bird”1

Ate: FishEarly birdsEarly Cretaceous

Kunpengornis was a fish-eating bird that lived about 120 million years ago. It had a long, slender beak with small teeth for grabbing fish. Fossilized fish bones were found in its stomach, showing it really did eat fish!2

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Liaoning Province, China1 3

Food

Fish2

Length

0.3 to 0.5 m2

estimated from skeleton

Wingspan

0.6 to 0.9 m2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 bananas end to end

How big was Kunpengornis compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Kunpengornis is the fourth Early Cretaceous bird found with direct evidence of eating fish.2

It lived in a lake environment in what is now China, about 121 to 113 million years ago.2

Kunpengornis had a long, pointed beak and small teeth only in the back half of its upper jaw.2

Its name comes from Kunpeng, a giant mythical bird from Chinese folklore.1

The only known fossil is a nearly complete skeleton found by a farmer and donated to a museum.2

Kunpengornis was not fully grown when it died; its bones were still fusing together.2

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

?Was Kunpengornis a dinosaur?

Yes, Kunpengornis is a bird, and birds are a type of dinosaur called avialan dinosaurs.1

?What did Kunpengornis eat?

Kunpengornis ate fish. Fossilized fish bones were found in its stomach, proving it was a fish-eater.1 2

?How big was Kunpengornis?

Kunpengornis was a medium-sized bird, but its exact size is not given in the sources. Its skull was about 2.6 times longer than it was tall, and its rostrum (beak) made up nearly 60 percent of the skull length.2

?When did Kunpengornis live?

Kunpengornis lived during the Early Cretaceous period, about 121 to 113 million years ago.1 2

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Myth buster

Myth: Kunpengornis is a dinosaur.

Truth: Kunpengornis is a bird (avialan), not a non-avian dinosaur. Birds evolved from dinosaurs but are in a different group.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Kunpengornis
Named by: Huang et al. 20264
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Euornithes4
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae4
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)4
Rock formations: Jiufotang4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: A local farmer found the nearly complete skeleton in Liaoning, China. It was given to the Anhui Geological Museum in 2023. Scientists named it Kunpengornis anhuimusei in 2026.2 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Kunpengornis is related to other early fish-eating birds. It may have been part of a group that includes Yanornis and Piscivoravis.2

Where the facts come from

Kunpengornis (en.wikipedia.org)
A new euornithine from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) of China reveals the first radiation of fish-eating birds (dinosaurier-info.de)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Kunpengornis 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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