Shishugounykus

Say it: SHEE-shoo-GOON-ee-kus

Name means: “Shishugou claw”1

Ate: MeatMeat-eating dinosLate Jurassic

Shishugounykus was a small, meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now China. It had strong claws on its hands and was an early relative of the weird alvarezsaurian dinosaurs with tiny arms.2

Lived

162 to 155 million years ago3

Late Jurassic

Fossils found in

Wucaiwan, Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China2

Food

Meat3

Weight

6.8 kg2

estimated from a formula for theropod dinosaurs

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1.5 house cats

about as heavy as a house catas heavy as 57 bananas

How big was Shishugounykus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Shishugounykus lived about 160 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period.2

It was one of the earliest alvarezsaurian dinosaurs, a group known for their short, strong arms and big claws.2

Shishugounykus weighed about 6.8 kilograms, roughly as much as a large house cat.2

Its name means 'Shishugou claw', after the rock formation where it was found and its sharp claws.1

Shishugounykus lived alongside two other alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: Haplocheirus and Aorun.2

The holotype specimen is an adult that was almost fully grown, with bones that show it was not a baby.2

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

?How big was Shishugounykus?

It was small, weighing about 6.8 kilograms, which is roughly as much as a large house cat.2

?What did Shishugounykus eat?

It was a meat-eating dinosaur, so it likely ate small animals and insects.1

?When did Shishugounykus live?

It lived about 160 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period.2

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Shishugounykus
Named by: Qin et al. 20193
Group: Meat-eating dinos
Family / clade: Alvarezsauria3
Classification: Theropoda3
Age of the rocks: 162 to 155 million years (Oxfordian)3
Rock formations: Shishugou3
Countries: China3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Shishugounykus was named in 2019 by scientists Qin, Clark, Choiniere and Xu. The fossils were found in the Shishugou Formation of Xinjiang, China.3 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Shishugounykus used its strong claws, but they think it might have been for digging or catching prey.2

Where the facts come from

Shishugounykus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new alvarezsaurian theropod from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of western China (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Shishugounykus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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