Sinovenator
Sinovenator was a small, bird-like dinosaur that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous. It was a smart hunter with sharp claws and teeth, and it looked a lot like a bird.1
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Fun facts
Sinovenator is one of the oldest and most primitive troodontids, a group of dinosaurs very closely related to birds.21
Its pubic bone pointed backward, like in dromaeosaurs and early birds, showing that later troodontids evolved a forward-pointing pubis separately.1
Sinovenator had a large brain for its size, making it one of the smartest dinosaurs of its time.1
Hundreds of Sinovenator fossils have been found, but most are still waiting to be studied.1
The species name 'changii' honors Chinese paleontologist Meemann Chang for her work on the Jehol Biota.1
Sinovenator lived alongside many other feathered dinosaurs and early birds in the Jehol ecosystem.1
Most asked questions about Sinovenator
?How big was Sinovenator?
About 1 metre long and weighed around 2.5 kilograms. That is about the size of a large chicken, though some adults may have been twice that length.13
?What did Sinovenator eat?
It was a carnivore, meaning it ate meat. It had sharp teeth and claws to hunt small animals.3
?Did Sinovenator have feathers?
The sources do not say for sure, but since it was a bird-like troodontid closely related to birds, many scientists think it probably had feathers.1
?When did Sinovenator live?
It lived during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 127 to 121 million years ago.3
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Myth buster
Myth: Sinovenator was a bird.
Truth: Sinovenator was a non-avian dinosaur, but it was very bird-like and is a close relative of birds.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Sinovenator
- Named by
- Xu et al. 20024
- Group
- Raptors
- Family / clade
- Troodontidae4
- Classification
- Theropoda > Troodontidae4
- Age of the rocks
- 126 to 120 million years (Barremian / Aptian)4
- Rock formations
- Yixian4
- Countries
- China4
- Fossil records
- 4 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Sinovenator was named in 2002 by Xu Xing and colleagues based on two fossils found in the Yixian Formation of China.21
- Still debated
- Scientists are still debating exactly how Sinovenator is related to other troodontids and to birds.1
Where the facts come from
- Sinovenator (en.wikipedia.org)
- A basal troodontid from the Early Cretaceous of China | Nature (nature.com)
- Sinovenator | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
- Sinovenator in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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