Therizinosaurus
Scythe lizard · THAIR-ih-ZIN-oh-SORE-us
- Size
- About 9 to 10m long; 5 tonnes
- Lived
- About 70 million years ago
- Found in
- Mongolia
A tall, pot-bellied, feathered dinosaur with a small head, a long neck and gigantic claws on its hands.
The therizinosaurus that follows you
This page has some of the strangest dinosaurs of the Cretaceous: one with metre-long claws, one with four wings, one that looks like an ostrich. Move your pointer and one will follow you. Choose a different one at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
01 · ClawsThe longest claws ever
Its claws were up to a metre long: the longest of any animal known.
02 · PlantsA theropod that ate plants
It belongs to the meat-eaters' family, but had a beak and leaf-shaped teeth for eating plants.
03 · TurtleFirst thought to be a turtle
When the claws were found in 1948, they were taken for the ribs of a giant turtle.
04 · PullWhat were the claws for?
Probably for pulling down branches, and for warning off hunters.
05 · BellyA big belly
It needed a large gut to digest leaves, which gave it a pot-bellied shape.
06 · PartsKnown from its arms
Only its arms, claws and a few other bones have been found. The rest is based on its relatives.
Meet them all
Six unusual dinosaurs
Oviraptor
Egg thief · OH-vih-RAP-tor
- Size
- About 1.6m long; 30kg
- Lived
- About 75 to 71 million years ago
- Found in
- Mongolia
A feathered, bird-like dinosaur with a short, toothless beak and a crest on its head.
Gallimimus
Chicken mimic · GAL-ih-MIME-us
- Size
- About 6m long; 400kg
- Lived
- About 70 million years ago
- Found in
- Mongolia
A tall, slender dinosaur shaped like an ostrich, with a long neck, a small toothless head and very long legs.
Microraptor
Small thief · MIKE-row-RAP-tor
- Size
- About 80cm long; 1kg
- Lived
- About 125 to 120 million years ago
- Found in
- Liaoning, north-east China
A crow-sized dinosaur with long feathers on its arms and on its legs, giving it four wings.
Styracosaurus
Spiked lizard · sty-RAK-oh-SORE-us
- Size
- About 5.5m long; 2.7 tonnes
- Lived
- About 75 million years ago
- Found in
- Alberta, Canada
A horned dinosaur with one long horn on its nose and a crown of long spikes around its frill.
Edmontosaurus
Edmonton lizard · ed-MON-toe-SORE-us
- Size
- About 12m long; 4 to 7 tonnes
- Lived
- About 73 to 66 million years ago
- Found in
- Western North America, as far north as Alaska
A very large duck-billed dinosaur with a broad, flat beak and a soft, fleshy comb on its head.
Good to know
Six things about feathers
The feathered fossils
Since 1996, quarries in north-east China have produced dinosaurs with their feathers still showing.
Feathers before flight
Feathers first evolved for warmth and for show. Flight came later.
We know some colours
Tiny structures in fossil feathers show whether they were black, ginger, grey or glossy.
They sat on nests
Several feathered dinosaurs have been found sitting on their eggs, just as birds do.
Birds are dinosaurs
Birds are the one branch of the dinosaur family that survived.
A new one every fortnight
Around fifty new kinds of dinosaur are named every year.
The Cretaceous: 2 more places
Where next?
Photo gallery
Real fossils, skeletons and museum models of the animals on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Therizinosaurus
Oviraptor
Gallimimus
Microraptor
Styracosaurus
Edmontosaurus
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
Stranger than fiction
Every few weeks a new kind of dinosaur is named. Many of the oddest have been found in the last thirty years.
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