Gallimimus, a New Look

Dinosaurs have been in the news lately, with paleontologists changing the way we have looked at some dinosaur species. The most recent dinosaur to get a facelift is Gallimimus, the "chicken mimic."

Gallimimus was first discovered in the early 1970's in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, and was described and named in 1972. It is a theropod dinosaur, and is placed in the Family Ornithomimidae (meaning "bird mimic"), the same family that Elaphrosaurus, Dromiceiomimus, Ornithomimus, and Struthiomimus are placed in.

Gallimimus lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (140 to 65 million years ago). It was about 13 feet (4 meters) in length, about the size of our modern ostrich (minus the long tail of Gallimimus). In fact, because of the similarities in size and body shape, the Ornithomimidae are often nicknamed the "ostrich dinosaurs." The Ornithomimids were widespread throughout North America and East Asia. Because of their similarities to modern ostriches, it was originally believed that they were probably fast sprinters that roamed the open plains in groups, the way that ostriches and other modern large, flightless birds do. The Ornithomimids did not have teeth, instead they had a horny, bird-like beak which they probably used to snap up small reptiles, mammals, and large insects, as well as possibly feeding on the eggs of other dinosaurs and some plant material. They had relatively large brains and large eyes, as well as grasping hands characteristics which would lead to them being intelligent hunters.

But was Gallimimus really a hunter? Dr. Peter Malkovicky at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois and Dr. Mark Norell at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City published an article in this week's issue of Nature suggesting that Gallimimus may have had a completely different lifestyle than was previously believed. They studied a particularly well-preserved Gallimimus specimen, and noticed that the beak of Gallimimus may have been more like that of a duck than a chicken. The beak contained tiny comb-like structures of soft tissue that could have been used for straining water through it to catch small invertebrates and other food particles.

Dr. Phil Currie at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada also worked on the Gallimimus specimen. He had collected a specimen of Ornithomimus in 1995 with traces of keratin (the material that makes up your hair and fingernails, as well as lines the beaks of birds) around its beak. Similar traces of keratin were found on the Gallimimus specimen.

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