Saurornithoides
Saurornithoides was a small, fast, bird-like dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous period. It had big eyes for seeing in the dark and a sharp claw on each foot to catch its prey. This smart hunter probably scoured the Gobi Desert for small mammals and reptiles.1
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Fun facts
Saurornithoides had a large brain for its size, making it one of the smartest non-bird dinosaurs.1
Its eyes were huge and gave it excellent stereoscopic vision, which helped it judge distances when hunting at night.1
The first Saurornithoides fossil was found on July 9, 1923, by a Chinese employee of an American Museum of Natural History expedition named Chih.1
A baby Saurornithoides had very strong leg bones, suggesting that troodontid babies could walk soon after hatching and needed little parental care.1
It had a retractable sickle claw on the second toe of each foot, like its cousin Troodon.1
The name was originally going to be 'Ornithoides' (bird-like), but Henry Fairfield Osborn changed it to Saurornithoides when he formally described it in 1924.1
Most asked questions about Saurornithoides
?How big was Saurornithoides?
About 2 metres (6.6 feet) long. That is roughly the length of a large sofa.3
?What does the name Saurornithoides mean?
It means 'bird-like lizard' in Greek, because its skull looked like a bird's.3
?Was Saurornithoides related to Velociraptor?
Yes, it resembled Velociraptor. Both are theropod dinosaurs.1
?Where was Saurornithoides found?
In Mongolia, in the Gobi Desert. Its fossils come from the Djadochta Formation.1
?When did Saurornithoides live?
It lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 85 to 80 million years ago.3
?How many species of Saurornithoides were there?
Only one valid species is known: Saurornithoides mongoliensis. Other named species have been moved to different dinosaurs or are no longer considered valid.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Saurornithoides
- Named by
- Osborn 19244
- Group
- Raptors
- Family / clade
- Troodontidae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Theropoda > Troodontidae > Compsognathidae4
- Age of the rocks
- 100 to 66 million years (Cenomanian / Maastrichtian)4
- Rock formations
- Djadokhta, Hell Creek, Bayan Mandahu4
- Countries
- Mongolia, USA, China, Uzbekistan4
- Fossil records
- 8 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Saurornithoides was named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924 based on a skull and other bones found in Mongolia by a Chinese collector named Chih in 1923.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure whether Saurornithoides is more closely related to North American troodontids like Troodon or to other Asian troodontids.2
Where the facts come from
- Saurornithoides (en.wikipedia.org)
- A review of the Mongolian Cretaceous dinosaur Saurornithoides (Troodontidae, Theropoda). (American Museum novitates, no. 3654) (digitallibrary.amnh.org)
- Saurornithoides | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Saurornithoides in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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Velociraptor
Microraptor
Deinonychus
Asiamericana
Richardoestesia
Saurornitholestes
Tyrannosaurus
Triceratops
Spinosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Parasaurolophus
Pteranodon