Dino card No. 1805 of 2,027

Timimus

Say it: TIM-ih-mus

Name means: “Tim's mimic”1

Ate: MeatTyrannosaursEarly Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Timimus was a small, fast-running dinosaur that lived in ancient polar forests in Australia. It had long legs and sharp teeth, and it hunted smaller animals. Scientists used to think it was an ostrich mimic, but now they think it might be an early relative of T. rex!1 5

Lived

113 to 94 million years ago5

Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Victoria, Australia (Dinosaur Cove East site, Eumeralla Formation)1 2

Food

Meat5

Length

2.5 to 4.3 m1

estimates vary; 2.5 m based on holotype femur, 4.3 m from a 2016 study

Weight

up to 200 kg1

Height

1.5 m3

hip height estimate

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 estimate

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 7 big dogs

as long as 4 dogs nose to tailas long as 24 bananas end to endas heavy as 40 watermelonsup to the handle of a door

How big was Timimus compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Timimus lived about 106 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous, in a polar region that had cold, dark winters.1

Its thighbone (femur) is 44 cm long, and scientists think the adult animal was about 2.5 to 4.3 metres long.1

The name Timimus honors both the discoverers' son Timothy Rich and paleontologist Tim Flannery.1

A study of its bone microstructure suggests Timimus may have hibernated during the cold, dark winter months.1

The holotype specimen is a single left thighbone (femur) from an adult, found in 1991 at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia.1 2

Scientists are not sure exactly what kind of dinosaur Timimus was. It was first thought to be an ornithomimosaur (ostrich mimic), but now many think it might be a tyrannosauroid, an early relative of Tyrannosaurus rex.1 5

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

?How big was Timimus?

Timimus was about 2.5 to 4.3 metres long and weighed around 200 kg. It stood about 1.2 metres tall at the hips.1 4

?Did Timimus have feathers?

Scientists think Timimus may have had a partial covering of feathers or proto-feathers, especially since it lived in a cold polar climate. However, no direct fossil evidence of feathers has been found.4

?Could Timimus hibernate?

Yes, a study of its bone microstructure suggests Timimus may have hibernated during the cold, dark winter months. Its bones show a stop-start growth pattern, unlike some other dinosaurs from the same area.1 4

Ask Rex about Timimus

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.

Myth buster

Myth: Timimus was an ostrich-like dinosaur that ran very fast and ate plants.

Truth: Timimus was originally thought to be an ornithomimosaur (ostrich mimic), but newer studies suggest it was a carnivorous theropod, possibly a tyrannosauroid. It was a meat-eater, not a plant-eater.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Timimus
Named by: Rich and Vickers-Rich 19945
Group: Tyrannosaurs
Family / clade: Tyrannosauroidea5
Classification: Theropoda > Tyrannosauroidea5
Age of the rocks: 113 to 94 million years (Albian / Cenomanian)5
Rock formations: Eumeralla, Griman Creek5
Countries: Australia5
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Timimus was named in 1993/1994 by Dr. Thomas Rich and his wife Patricia Vickers-Rich. The fossils were found in 1991 at Dinosaur Cove East in Victoria, Australia. The species name hermani honors volunteer John Herman.1 2
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Timimus is a tyrannosauroid, a dromaeosaurid, or a different kind of coelurosaur. Some even consider it a nomen dubium (doubtful name) because the fossils are so incomplete.1

Where the facts come from

Timimus (en.wikipedia.org)
Timimus hermani Rich & Vickers-Rich, 1994 (collections.museumsvictoria.com.au)
TIMIMUS - DinoChecker dinosaur archive (dinochecker.com)
Timimus | Swift Tyrannosauroid of Early Cretaceous Australia (thedinosaurs.org)
Timimus 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