Aorun

What it was like

Aorun was a small meat eater known from a skull and skeleton of a very young animal. It is thought to be one of the earliest relatives of the alvarezsaurs, strange, small dinosaurs that later had stubby arms with one big claw.

Because the fossil comes from a young animal, its adult size and shape are unknown.

Its world

It lived in the Jurassic, around 165 million years ago, in what is now northwestern China. Its bones come from the Shishugou Formation, where it shared the land with the crested tyrannosaur relative Guanlong, the beaked Limusaurus, the early horned Yinlong and the giant Mamenchisaurus.

How it was found

Choiniere and colleagues named Aorun in 2013, from a single find.