Gallimimus
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Name Meaning | “chicken mimic” |
| Location | Mongolia |
| Time Period | c. 70 million years ago (Late Cretaceous) |
| Length | 20 ft (6 m) |
| Weight | 880 lb (400 kg) |
| Locomotion | Biped |
| Diet | Omnivore |
| Described | 1972 (Osmólska et al.) |
| Geological Formation(s) | Nemegt |
| Valid Species | Gallimimus bullatus (type) |
Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Saurischia > Theropoda > Neotheropoda > Tetanurae > Avetheropoda > Coelurosauria > Ornithomimosauria > Ornithomimoidea > Ornithomimidae
Overview: Ornithomimids were a family of superficially ostrich-like dinosaurs that flourished in the Late Cretaceous. They were especially prominent in North America and Asia, where they probably acted as a food source for many carnivores, while being mostly generalist or omnivorous feeders themselves. Gallimimus is probably the most widely known member of the Ornithomimidae, thanks to its portrayal in the Jurassic Park franchise. There, its basic anatomy is represented with a fair bit of accuracy, though fossil evidence found since has revealed the ornithomimids to have possessed feathers in life. Integument of this sort is to be expected, considering the family is placed within the Coelurosauria, making them relatively closely related to birds. Gallimimus and its ornithomimid relatives were also related to other families in a larger group called the Ornithomimosauria, most prominently the Deinocheiridae (a group of more basal, often bulkier ornithomimosaurs).
Growing to be up to six meters long, Gallimimus is the largest known ornithomimid (though some of the deinocheirids grew to be even larger). Largest or not, its overall form was slender, as was to be expected. Ornithomimids were long-legged creatures that mainly relied upon evasion and speed to escape danger. Like its relatives, Gallimimus had an elongated neck topped by a tiny skull, the jaws of which had no teeth. It probably ate a mix of smaller animals and plant matter. All known Gallimimus fossils come from Mongolia’s Nemegt Formation, dated to seventy million years ago. It coexisted with dinosaurs such as Tarchia, Saurolophus, Therizinosaurus, Deinocheirus and Tarbosaurus, the latter of which was probably the region’s top predator. Described by Polish paleontologists in 1972, the generic name of Gallimimus means “chicken mimic”, a combination of Latin and Greek. It’s a well understood genus, being based on at least two dozen individual specimens.