Struthiomimus
STROO-thee-oh-MY-mus
"ostrich mimic"
- Lived
- 84 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Length
- about 4.3 m (14 ft)
- Group
- Theropods, Ornithomimidae
- Found in
- Canada
- Named by
- Osborn 1916
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in meters
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
75 million years ago
Also reported from United States.
Habitat
It probably lived on river plains with sandy channels, patches of woodland and low ferns. Lambeosaurus and Gorgosaurus lived in the Dinosaur Park Formation.
Field notes
About Struthiomimus
What it was like
Struthiomimus looked much like a large, long-legged ostrich, with a long neck, a small toothless head, and slim, grasping hands. It grew to about 4.3 meters (14 feet) long and was almost certainly a fast runner, built for sprinting away from danger rather than fighting it.
Its toothless beak suggests Struthiomimus ate a broad range of food, probably including plants, seeds, and small animals, similar to how ostriches and other modern flightless birds forage today.
Its world
Struthiomimus lived from about 84 to 66 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, mainly in what is now Alberta, in Canada, with fossils also reported from Wyoming, in the United States.
It shared its world with the horned Triceratops, the predator Tyrannosaurus, the tyrannosaurid Albertosaurus, and Ornithomimus, another long-legged relative that lived in the same region.
How it was found
Osborn named Struthiomimus in 1916. Around 13 fossil finds are known, among the better-represented ornithomimids, giving a good picture of its skeleton and proportions. Its closest relatives include Ornithomimus, Gallimimus, and Archaeornithomimus, all members of the ostrich-mimic family Ornithomimidae.
Field gallery
More views of Struthiomimus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 7
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Struthiomimus.
The evidence
The science behind Struthiomimus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Skeletons show a small toothless head, a long neck and exceptionally long lower legs.
- The arms ended in slender hands with three fingers, and a long tail balanced the body.
Borrowed from relatives
- Almost the whole body is known from its own bones.
- Fine body feathers and folded feather fans on the arms are inferred from Ornithomimus.
Still unknown
- Its color and the exact arrangement of its feathers.
- What its young looked like.
- How much of its diet came from plants rather than small animals.
Often drawn wrong
- Its tail was long, unlike the short tail of an ostrich.
- Its beak had no rows of teeth.
- Its palms faced inward rather than toward the ground.
Discovery timeline
- 1916Named itOsborn
- 2012Close relativeZelenitsky et al.
- 2016Family treeMcFeeters et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Struthiomimus
Named it
Described the long limbs, neck and grasping hands of an ostrich-like dinosaur.
Skeletal adaptations of Ornitholestes, Struthiomimus, Tyrannosaurus. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 35: 733-771
No link available
Close relative
Ornithomimus had fine body feathers and winglike arm feathers in adults, supporting a feathered covering for Struthiomimus.
Feathered Non-Avian Dinosaurs from North America Provide Insight into Wing Origins. Science 338: 510-514
Read the paper : Feathered Non-Avian Dinosaurs from North America Provide Insight into Wing Origins (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Found that a skeleton previously assigned to Struthiomimus lacked the features needed to identify it as that species.
A new ornithomimid theropod from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36: e1221415
Read the paper : A new ornithomimid theropod from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ornithomimidae
Sources: Wikidata