Gallimimus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids GallimimusTemporal range: Upper Cretaceous
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Gallimimus
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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.
Description
Gallimimus was rather ostrich-like, with a small head, toothless beak, large eyes, a long neck, short arms, long legs, and a long tail. A diagnostic character of Gallimimus is a distinctly short 'hand' relative to the humerus length, when compared to other ornithomimids. The tail was used as a counterbalance. The eyes were located on the sides of its head, meaning that it did not possess binocular vision. Like most modern birds and other theropods, it had hollow bones. Gallimimus had a number of adaptations which suggest good running ability, such as a strong ilium, heavy tail base, long limbs, a long tibia and metatarsus, and short toes, but it is unknown how fast it could run. All ornithomimids had long skulls, but that of Gallimimus was exceptionally elongated, due to an elongation of the snout. The snouts of the juvenile specimens are much shorter.
Norwegian researcher Jørn H. Hurum in 2001 published a detailed description of a complete lower jaw bone from Gallimimus bullatus. He observed that the bones composing the jaw were "paper thin", and corrects minor mistakes made in previous reconstructions of the lower jaw of G. bullatus. He also observed that the tight intramandibular joint would prevent any movement between the front and rear portions of the lower jaw.
In popular culture
The dinosaur appeared on-screen, in the motion picture Jurassic Park.
Images for kids
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Cretaceous-aged dinosaur fossil localities of Mongolia; Gallimimus fossils were collected in area A
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Three skeletons, including the holotype (right) and a juvenile (middle), during a temporary exhibition in CosmoCaixa
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Specimens which were repatriated to Mongolia after having been smuggled to the US, in Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs
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Reconstructed skull and neck, NHM
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Life restoration showing an adult with feathers, based on those known from the related Ornithomimus
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Pneumatic structures in the caudal vertebrae of Shenzhousaurus (A), and the cervical (B, C, D), dorsal (E), sacral (F, G) and caudal (H) vertebrae of Gallimimus
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Hindlimb bones of ZPAL MgD-I/8, Museum of Evolution of Polish Academy of Sciences
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Reconstructed skull and neck in front view, NHM
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Skull in Dinosauria Museum
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The beak of Gallimimus contained structures which have been compared to the lamellae of, for example, the Northern shoveller, or the ridges in the beaks of turtles and hadrosaurids
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Smallest known Gallimimus, the juvenile specimen IGM 100/10, exhibited in CosmoCaixa
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Skull cast of the juvenile specimen ZPAL MgD-I/1, National Museum of Natural History
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Gallimimus was formerly depicted without feathers, like this model in MEPAS
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See also
In Spanish: Gallimimus bullatus para niños
