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Tiantaisaurus

Say it: tee-AN-tay-SORE-us

Name means: “Tiantai lizard”4

Ate: PlantsOdd feathered dinosEarly Cretaceous

Tiantaisaurus was a big, plant-eating dinosaur with a birdlike skeleton. It had air pockets inside its back bones, just like birds do today. This made its heavy body lighter and helped it move around.1

Lived

106 to 100 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Zhejiang Province, China1 4

Food

Plants4

Length

5.5 m2

Height

3 m3

head 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?

head height

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 31 bananas end to endas tall as 1.5 doors stacked up

How big was Tiantaisaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Tiantaisaurus lived about 106 to 100 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.4

Its fossils include twelve neck bones, nine back bones, and twenty-eight tail bones, plus parts of its hips and legs.2

The air pockets in its vertebrae are called pneumaticity. They made its skeleton similar to modern bird skeletons.1

This dinosaur belongs to a group called therizinosaurs. These weird dinosaurs started out as meat-eaters but later became plant-eaters.1

Tiantaisaurus was first described scientifically in 2012 by Qian and colleagues. The fossils were found in 2005 in Zhejiang, China.4 2

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

?How big was Tiantaisaurus?

It was a medium sized dinosaur, but its exact size is not known from the fossils found. Scientists estimate an adult length of about 2 to 3 metres, as the fossils are too incomplete for a precise measurement.4

?What did Tiantaisaurus eat?

It was a plant-eater. Its group, the therizinosaurs, started out as meat-eaters but later evolved to eat plants.1

?Did Tiantaisaurus have feathers?

Yes, it was a feathered theropod. Many therizinosaurs are known to have had feathers, and Tiantaisaurus belonged to that group.4

?When did Tiantaisaurus live?

It lived about 106 to 100 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period.4

?Where was Tiantaisaurus found?

Its fossils were found in 2005 in Tiantai, Zhejiang Province, China.1

?Is Tiantaisaurus a dinosaur?

Yes, it is a dinosaur. It belongs to the theropod group called Therizinosauridae.4

?Why did Tiantaisaurus have air pockets in its bones?

The air pockets, called pneumaticity, made its heavy body lighter and helped it move around, similar to modern bird skeletons.1

?Could Tiantaisaurus run fast?

Nobody knows for sure, but the air pockets in its vertebrae helped make it less bulky and more flexible, which might have helped it move.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Tiantaisaurus
Named by: Qian et al. 20124
Group: Odd feathered dinos
Family / clade: Therizinosauridae4
Classification: Theropoda > Therizinosauria4
Age of the rocks: 106 to 100 million years (Albian)4
Rock formations: Laijia4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Tiantaisaurus was discovered in 2005 in Tiantai, Zhejiang, China. It was named by Qian and colleagues in 2012.4 2
Still debated: Scientists debate whether Tiantaisaurus ate only plants or also some meat, because its therizinosaur relatives changed from meat-eaters to plant-eaters.1

Where the facts come from

欢迎访问《地质学刊》编辑部网站！ (journalofgeology1977.com)
Therizinosauroidea (theropoddatabase.com)
Re: Tiantai(o)saurus Dong et al. 2007, missed Chinese therizinosaur? (reptilis.net)
Tiantaisaurus 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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