Dino card No. 1419 of 2,027

Philovenator

Say it: FIE-lo-ven-ay-tor

Name means: “love hunter”1

Ate: MeatRaptorsLate Cretaceous

Philovenator was a small, bird-like dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It had a big brain for its size, sharp claws, and probably hunted small animals.1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Wulansuhai Formation, Inner Mongolia, China1 2

Food

Meat2 3

Length

0.6 m1

estimated from a juvenile specimen, adult size unknown

Weight

1 kg4

estimate

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 8 bananas

as long as 3 bananas end to endlighter than a house catas heavy as 8 bananas

How big was Philovenator compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Philovenator is known from just one left hindlimb, discovered in 1988 by the China-Canada Dinosaur Project.1

It was first thought to be a young Saurornithoides, but later studies showed it was a new kind of troodontid.1

Troodontids like Philovenator had some of the biggest brains of any non-bird dinosaur, making them very smart.1

Philovenator had a sickle claw on each foot, like a Velociraptor, which it used to catch prey.1

Its name honors paleontologist Philip J. Currie, and 'philein' means 'to love' in Greek, so it means 'love hunter'.1

The only known fossil is from a juvenile, so scientists are not sure how big adults grew.1

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

?How big was Philovenator?

About 60 centimetres long, based on the only known fossil, which is from a juvenile.1

?What did Philovenator eat?

It probably hunted small animals, using its sharp claws and sickle claw on each foot to catch prey.1

?When did Philovenator live?

It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, between about 75 and 71 million years ago.1

?Was Philovenator a dinosaur?

Yes, it was a small, bird-like troodontid dinosaur.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Philovenator
Named by: Xu et al. 20125
Group: Raptors
Family / clade: Troodontidae5
Classification: Theropoda > Troodontidae5
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
Rock formations: Wulansuhai5
Countries: China5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Philovenator was named in 2012 by Xu Xing and colleagues. The only fossil, a left hindlimb, was found in 1988 in Inner Mongolia, China.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure how big Philovenator grew as an adult, because the only known fossil is from a juvenile.1

Where the facts come from

Philovenator (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Philovenator Xu et al. 2012 - Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org)
Philovenator curriei | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
Philovenator 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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