Therizinosaurus
Therizinosaurus cheloniformis
Therizinosaurus challenges the stereotype of theropods as exclusively meat-eaters and demonstrates a highly specialised herbivore.
Image: Yuya Tamai from Gifu, Japan · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Sites on today's globe · 1 marker
Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Therizinosaurus cheloniformis
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)
- Lived
- 70–66 Ma (70 million years ago)
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Habitat
- Forest, Plains
- Length (estimate)
- 10 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 5,000 kg
Description
Therizinosaurus was a large, heavily built therizinosaurid with very long claws on its forelimbs. The claws were probably not suited to killing prey and may have pulled plants towards its mouth or served in defence. Its long neck and beak are consistent with a mainly plant-based diet, although its precise food choices are unknown. It is chiefly known from isolated arm and claw bones.
Habitat
River woodlands and humid lowlands of the Gobi region.
Fossil sites
Nemegt Formation, Ömnögovi
Nemegt Formation
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Therizinosaurus