Dino card No. 1835 of 2,027

Tsaagan

Say it: SAH-gahn

Name means: “white monster”1

Ate: MeatRaptorsLate Cretaceous

Tsaagan was a fast, feathered raptor that lived in the desert of Mongolia. It had a big skull and strong jaws, and it hunted other dinosaurs. Only one skull and neck bones have been found, so it is a rare dinosaur.1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Xanadu sublocality, Ukhaa Tolgod, Ömnögov Aimag, Mongolia2

Food

Meat4

Length

2 m3

estimate

Weight

15 kg3

estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 4 house cats

as long as 4 house cats nose to tailas long as 11 bananas end to endas heavy as 120 bananas

How big was Tsaagan compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Tsaagan is only the second dromaeosaurid dinosaur ever found in the Djadokhta Formation, after Velociraptor.1

Its name comes from the Mongolian words for 'white' and 'monster'.1

The only known Tsaagan fossil is a well-preserved skull and the first eight neck bones from an adult.2

Tsaagan had a straight, hanging paroccipital process on its skull, which is different from other raptors.1

Scientists used CT scans to study the inside of Tsaagan's skull and brain case.1

Tsaagan lived about 83 to 72 million years ago, during the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous.4

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

?How big was Tsaagan?

Tsaagan was about 2 metres (6.6 ft) long and weighed around 15 kilograms (33 lb). That is about the size of a large dog.3

?What did Tsaagan eat?

Tsaagan was a meat-eating dinosaur, a raptor that hunted other animals. It probably ate small dinosaurs and lizards that lived in its desert home.3

?Did Tsaagan have feathers?

Yes, Tsaagan was a dromaeosaurid raptor, and scientists believe it had feathers, like its close relative Velociraptor.3

?Where was Tsaagan found?

Tsaagan was discovered in Mongolia, in the Djadokhta Formation of the Gobi Desert. The only fossil was found near Xanadu in Ömnögovi Province.3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Tsaagan
Named by: Norell et al. 20064
Group: Raptors
Family / clade: Dromaeosauridae4
Classification: Theropoda > Dromaeosauridae4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)4
Rock formations: Djadokhta4
Countries: Mongolia4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Tsaagan was named in 2006 by Mark Norell and his team. The only fossil was found at the Xanadu site in Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia.4 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly where Tsaagan fits in the raptor family tree, but they think it is a close relative of Velociraptor.4

Where the facts come from

A new dromaeosaurid theropod from Ukhaa Tolgod (Ömnögov, Mongolia) ; American Museum novitates, no. 3545 (digitallibrary.amnh.org)
A New Dromaeosaurid Theropod from Ukhaa (digitallibrary.amnh.org)
Tsaagan (en.wikipedia.org)
Tsaagan 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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