Dino card No. 1675 of 2,027

Sinornithoides

Say it: sine-OR-nih-THOY-deez

Name means: “Chinese bird form”1

Ate: MeatRaptorsEarly Cretaceous

Sinornithoides was a tiny, bird-like dinosaur that lived about 113 million years ago. It was probably a fast hunter of small prey like insects. One fossil was found curled up like a sleeping bird, with its snout tucked under its arm.1 2

Lived

113 to 110 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Inner Mongolia, China (Ejinhoro Formation)1 4

Food

Meat1

Length

1 to 1.1 m1

scientists estimate from measurements of the skeleton

Weight

2.5 kg1

Height

0.3 m3

hip height

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

hip height

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 21 bananas

as long as 2 house cats nose to tailas long as 6 bananas end to endabout as heavy as a house catas heavy as 21 bananas

How big was Sinornithoides compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Sinornithoides had a sickle claw on its second toe, like other troodontids, which it may have used to grip prey.1

The fossil was preserved in a sleeping pose, with its snuck under one hand, just like a modern bird resting.1

Its skull was long and pointed, but the head was short compared to its body length.1

The teeth on the front of its upper jaw had no serrations, but the back teeth had small serrations only on one edge.1

Sinornithoides had a furcula (wishbone) and a basket of fifteen pairs of belly ribs called gastralia.1

Troodontids like Sinornithoides had some of the highest brain-to-body sizes among non-bird dinosaurs, meaning they were probably smart.1

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

?How big was Sinornithoides?

About 1 metre long, and weighed around 2.5 kilograms. That is about the size of a large chicken.1 3

?What did Sinornithoides eat?

It probably ate invertebrates and other small prey, like insects and lizards.1

?Was Sinornithoides a dinosaur?

Yes, it was a small, bird-like theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period.1

?Did Sinornithoides have feathers?

The sources do not mention feathers directly, but as a troodontid closely related to birds, it likely had feathers. Many troodontid fossils show evidence of feathers.1

Ask Rex about Sinornithoides

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

For dino experts

Scientific name: Sinornithoides
Named by: Russell and Dong 19944
Group: Raptors
Family / clade: Troodontidae4
Classification: Theropoda > Troodontidae4
Age of the rocks: 113 to 110 million years (Albian)4
Rock formations: Zhonggou, Ejinhoro4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: A Chinese-Canadian expedition found the nearly complete skeleton in 1988 near Huamuxiao, in the Ordos Basin of Inner Mongolia. Dale Russell and Dong Zhiming named it Sinornithoides youngi in 1993/1994, honoring paleontologist Yang Zhongjian.1 2

Where the facts come from

Sinornithoides (en.wikipedia.org)
cdnsciencepub.com (cdnsciencepub.com)
SINORNITHOIDES : DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
Sinornithoides 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.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex