Dino card No. 1963 of 2,027

Yanornis

Say it: YAN-or-niss

Name means: “Yan bird”1

Ate: FishEarly birdsEarly Cretaceous

Yanornis was an ancient bird that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. It was about the size of a chicken and could fly well. It loved to eat fish!1

Lived

126 to 113 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Liaoning province, China1 2

Food

Fish1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Yanornis had a long skull with about 10 teeth in the upper jaw and 20 teeth in the lower jaw.1

Its wishbone (furcula) was U-shaped, which helped it fly and walk well.1

Yanornis spent most of its time on the ground because its feet were not good at grasping branches.1

Some scientists think Yanornis might have eaten seeds sometimes, but others disagree.1

The front half of a Yanornis fossil was once glued to the tail of a Microraptor to make a fake fossil called 'Archaeoraptor'.1

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

?What did Yanornis eat?

Yanornis was primarily a fish-eater. Several fossils show fish remains in its stomach and crop, though some scientists once thought it might also eat seeds.1 3

?How big was Yanornis?

Yanornis was about the size of a chicken.1

?Could Yanornis fly?

Yes, Yanornis could fly well. It had a modern-looking wishbone and wing bones that allowed it to lift its wings high for an efficient upstroke.1

?Is Yanornis a dinosaur?

Yanornis is an extinct bird that belongs to the dinosaur group called Avialae, so yes, it is considered a type of dinosaur.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Yanornis
Named by: Zhou and Zhang 20014
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Yanornithidae4
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae4
Age of the rocks: 126 to 113 million years (Barremian / Aptian)4
Rock formations: Jiufotang, Yixian4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 4 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Yanornis was named by Zhou and Zhang in 2001. The type species Y. martini was named after paleontologist Larry Martin.1 4
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Yanornis sometimes switched its diet from fish to seeds.1

Where the facts come from

Yanornis (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
pone.0095036 1..8 (journals.plos.org)
Yanornis 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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