Gallimimus

Gallimimus (chicken mimic) was a fast-running dinosaur. It had a long, thin, flattened, toothless, horny beak, a small head, and a relatively large brain. Gallimimus lived in the Upper Cretaceous, about 75-70 million years ago.

Gallimimus
Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
Gallimimus 1 NHM3.jpg
Gallimimus at the Natural History Museum
Scientific classification
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Gallimimus
Species
  • G. bullatus

Description

The bottom front part of its beak was shaped like a shovel. It had large eyes positioned on opposite sites of its head, ruling out binocular vision (depth perception). It had a long neck, long tail, and long legs. Gallimimus was about 13-20 ft (4-6 m) long, was 6.3 ft (1.9 m) tall at the hips, and may have weighed about 970 pounds (440 kg).

These were probably among the fastest of all dinosaurs.[1] Like many other coelurosaurs, the ornithomimid hide was probably feathered rather than scaly.

In popular culture

The dinosaur appeared on-screen, in the motion picture Jurassic Park.

Gallimimus Media

References

  1. Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. 2012. Dinosaurs: the most complete, up-to-date encyclopedia for dinosaur lovers of all ages, Winter 2011 Appendix.