Gallimimus has many features unique to ornithomimids (ostrich dinosaurs) . Those are;

• toothless, beaked mouth
• relatively long arms
• three-toed foot lacking hallux

As their skeleton resembles the ostrich's, their life style is assumed to be similar to that of modern-day ostriches.

The new species of Gallimimus (G. mongoliensis) was reconstructed for the first time and displayed in Nakasato Dinosaur Center, where we can see its structural differences from that of the formerly-known G. bullatus.

G. mongoliensis is distinguished from G. bullatus on the following characters:

• relatively straight claws
• humerus (upper arm bone) and ulna (lower arm bone) are shorter, thus entire arm structure is much meager
• smaller skull

Since G. mongoliensis had shorter forelimbs with rather straight claws, it is suggested that this animal was not good at grasping the prey in comparison to G. bullatus. This animal possibly had different eating behavior from that of G. bullatus

Many ostrich dinosaurs had flourished in Mesozoic Mongolia ; Harpymimus (one of the primitive members of ornithomimids), Garudimimus, Gallimimus and recently unearthed new species.

Although other ostrich dinosaurs and their relatives were also found in other continents, such as Southeast Africa and North America, the diversity of those group was the highest in Mongolia.

Top Menu Exhibits Menu

Copyright(C) 1997-2007@by Kanna dinosaur Center. All rights reserved.