Ornitholestes facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ornitholestes Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
This is the only fossil of Ornitholestes (AMNH)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
(unranked):	Coelurosauria
Genus:	Ornitholestes Osborn, 1903

Ornitholestes was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived during the Upper Jurassic period. This was about 156 to 145 million years ago. It was about 2 metres (6.6 feet) long. Half of its length was its very long tail. Only one fossil of this dinosaur has ever been found.

Ornitholestes belongs to a group of small, fast-running dinosaurs. These are known as early Coelurosaurs. Scientists found its partial skeleton near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, in 1900. A paleontologist named Henry F. Osborn first described it in 1903.

What Ornitholestes Looked Like

Ornitholestes was a two-legged runner. It had a small head, which suggests it ate small animals. These might have included tiny mammals, lizards, frogs, and baby dinosaurs. It could grab its prey with both of its hands. Scientists believe that all coelurosaurs, including Ornitholestes, likely had feathers.

Dinosaurs Similar to Ornitholestes

Other dinosaurs that were similar to Ornitholestes include:

• Coelurus
• Compsognathus
• Tanycolagreus

Images for kids

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  Mounted holotype specimen

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  Life restoration

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  Illustration of the holotype skull

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  Hand of the holotype, with the first finger restored on the right

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  The early 20th century mount of the holotype skeleton at the AMNH, which stands much the same today

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  This illustration by Charles R. Knight portrays Ornitholestes hunting Archaeopteryx, though they were not contemporaries

See also

In Spanish: Ornitholestes hermanni para niños