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Liaoningornis

Say it: lee-ow-NING-or-niss
Name means: “bird of Liaoning”1
Ate: MeatEarly birdsEarly Cretaceous

Liaoningornis was a tiny bird that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now China. It was about the size of a sparrow and could fly and perch in trees. This little bird was a carnivore, meaning it ate meat like insects or small animals.14

Lived
126 to 120 million years ago4
Early Cretaceous
Fossils found in
Liaoning province, China12
Length
0.1 m (0.3 ft)3
about 10 centimetres long
Height
0.05 m (0.2 ft)
estimate
Top speed
about 18 km/h (11 mph)
Flying, estimate

When did it live?

Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

Liaoningornis about 0.2 m long (0.7 ft)A house cat about 0.5 m (1.6 ft)A dog about 1 m (3.3 ft)A bicycle about 1.8 m (5.9 ft)

How tall was it?

Liaoningornisabout 0.1 m tall (0.3 ft)A house catabout 0.3 m (1 ft)A dogabout 0.5 m (1.6 ft)A horseabout 1.6 m (5.2 ft)

estimate

as long as 3 toy building bricks in a rowsmall enough to walk under a chaircould fly across a whole football pitch in 21 seconds

How big was Liaoningornis compared to YOU?

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How fast was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Liaoningornis had a deeply keeled breastbone, which helped it fly strongly.1

2

Its feet had highly curved claws, perfect for gripping branches and perching.1

3

The only known fossil is a partial skeleton, including both feet, a leg, and part of the breastbone.1

4

Scientists once thought Liaoningornis was a very early type of modern bird, but now they think it was an enantiornithean, a group of ancient birds that went extinct with the dinosaurs.1

5

Liaoningornis lived around 125 to 119 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.2

6

Its name means 'bird of Liaoning', after the province in China where it was found.1

AI-madeAI-made picture of Liaoningornis
An AI-made picture of how Liaoningornis 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.

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Scientific name
Liaoningornis
Named by
Hou 19974
Group
Early birds
Family / clade
Ornithuromorpha4
Classification
Theropoda > Avialae4
Age of the rocks
126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)4
Rock formations
Yixian4
Countries
China4
Fossil records
1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery
Liaoningornis was named by Chinese paleontologist Linhai Hou in 1996 and 1997, based on a partial skeleton found near Beipiao in Liaoning, China.1
Still debated
Scientists still debate whether Liaoningornis belongs to the Enantiornithes group or the Ornithuromorpha group of ancient birds.14

Where the facts come from

  1. Liaoningornis (en.wikipedia.org)
  2. paleobiodb.org (paleobiodb.org)
  3. PaleoCodex :: Liaoningornis (paleocodex.com)
  4. Liaoningornis in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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Also from the same time: Early Cretaceous

StegosaurusPlated dinosIguanodonBeaked plant-eatersGiganotosaurusMeat-eating dinosMicroraptorRaptorsDeinonychusRaptorsBaryonyxSpinosaurs
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