Gallimimus

*Gallimimus bullatus*

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***Gallimimus bullatus***(gal-IH-mime-US) was a fast, ostirich-like dinosaur, with a long, extended tail for balancing while running, and was rather intelligent by dinosaur standards. It had a long neck and large, round eyes, possibly for night vision, suggesting a nocturnal lifestyle (though there is no reason it wasn't diurnal).

The legs had powerful muscles but were slim near the feet, like the legs of all fast-running animals.

The long feathers may have been for display or to protect eggs and young.

## Discovery

*Gallimimus* was found in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia in early 1963 by Professor Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska. It was named by palaeontologist Richen Barsbold in 1972, who thought it looked rather rooster-like in appearance. Most fossils have been found in Mongolia. At the time only one species of *Gallimimus* was known, and it was dubbed *Gallimimus bullatus*, because of the bulbous swelling in the brain-case resembled a bulla; a capsule which was worn by Roman youths around their necks. A second species, "Gallimimus mongoliensis" was discovered in 1996.

## Description

Gallimimus was the largest ornithomimosaur. One of the Gallimimus specimens, IGM 100/11, was 6 meters long and 1.9 metres tall at its hip. Its skull was 330 millimeters in length, and the femur was 660 millimeters in length. The weight of IGM 100/11 was estimated to be 440–450 kilograms. There's a juvenile Gallimimus specimen, known ZPAL MgD-I/94, which was wround 2.15 meters long, 0.79 meters tall at it's hip, and 26 kg. It was revealed that Gallimimus were feathered like other ornithomimosaurs, due to the wing-like structures that was proven by the presence of quill-knobs on the ulna bone of the lower arm, which are bumps that indicate where feathers would have attached.

## Classification

Struthomimus was the closest relative to the Gallimimus.

## Paleobiology

The cervical vertebrae of *Gallimimus* indicate that it held its neck obliquely, declining upwards at an angle of 35 degrees. Osmólska and colleagues found that the hands of *Gallimimus* were not prehensile (or capable of grasping), and that the thumb was not opposable. They also stated that the arms were weak compared to, those of *Deinocheirus*. They agreed with the interpretations of ornithomimid biology by palaeontologist Dale Russell from earlier in 1972, including that they would have been very fleet animals, although less agile than large, modern ground birds, and would have used their speed to escape predators. Russell also proposed that they had a good sense of vision and intelligence comparable to that of modern land running birds. Since their predators may have had color vision, he suggested it would have influenced their coloration, which results in camouflage. In 1982, palaeontologist Richard A. Thulborn estimated that *Gallimimus* could have run at speeds of 42–56 km/h. He found that ornithimimids would not have been as fast as ostriches, which can reach 70–80 km/h due to their arms and tails increasing their weight.

## Paleoenvironments

*Gallimimus* became well-known in the Nemegt Formation located in the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia. Gallimimus lived alongside with *Shamosuchus, Gurilynia, Judinornis*, *Teviornis, Tarchia*, *Prenocephale*, *Saurolophus*, *Barsboldia*, *Nemegtosaurus*, *Opisthocoelicaudia*, *Tarbosaurus*, *Alioramus*, *Bagaraatan*, *Borogovia*, *Tochisaurus*, *Zanabazar*, *Therizinosaurus*, *Elmisaurus*, *Nemegtomaia*, and *Rinchenia*.

## Anatomy

It is likely that *Gallimimus* was a very intelligent creature, based on mass and the proportion to the brain, meaning that they were probably quite smart among most dinosaurs. It shared many features with its relatives. such as *Struthiomimus* and *Ornithomimus*. It is guessed that *Gallimimus* was an omnivore, similiar to the *Oviraptor*. Its main diet consisted of small lizards and bugs, some eggs, and some plants. *Gallimimus* ran on two slender legs. It's predicted to have been ostrich-like, and most likely had feathers, given that feathers were preserved in it's relatives and more massive feathered dinosaurs did exist. It had a long, flat, toothless beak, with the lower jaw being shaped like a shovel, a tool which would have probably been helpful in crunching hard materials like nuts or roots. It weighed about 970 lbs and was about 8 meters (26 feet) in length, making it one of the largest of ornithomimids. It had three claws on each arm, with three on each foot. The tail, like many other dinosaurs, was meant for balance, especially while they were running. Like other ornithomimids, it was a very fast runner, possibly capable of running up to 50 mph, which is about the same as an ostirich's top speed and over twice as fast as Olympic sprinters! *Gallimimus* also had large eyes, which possibly suggests that they were nocturnal dinosaurs like the *Troodon*.

## JPInstitute.com Description

Gallimimus was a speedy predator, the largest of its type. They were called chicken mimics because they probably moved like modern flightless birds. Unlike other meat-eaters, Gallimimus had no teeth. In fact, it had a very small head. This was probably one of the fastest dinosaurs, with speed like a modern cheetah, it could probably run up to 60 mph.

With its small, toothless head, it is believed that Gallimimus probably had a diet of insects, small animals, eggs and maybe even some plants. They hand very long fingers and long arms, which they could use for digging or grabbing eggs. They had a much longer neck that any other therapod dinosaur. In Jurassic Park they were shown as large flock, but we don't know if that was real or movie behavior.

## Dinosaur Field Guide Description

Gallimimus ("chicken mimic") is one of the largest of the ornithomimosaurs (or "bird mimics"). Ornithomimosaurs are often called "ostrich dinosaurs" because they are shaped very similar to modern flightless birds. Ostrich dinosaurs were compact, with long arms and legs. The arms ended in long hands with hook-like fingers all curling in the same direction. Their feet were long, narrow, and compact, and had a special shock-absorbing shape that let them run very fast. In fact, ostrich dinosaurs were probably the fastest dinosaurs of the Cretaceous Period. This would have been useful, since both raptors and tyrant dinosaurs hunted in the places where Gallimimus and its relatives lived! Although Pelecanimimus and other early ostrich dinosaurs had teeth in their jaws, Gallimimus and its relatives were totally toothless. Their beaked heads had large eyes and were at the end of long, slender necks. Some paleontologists think that ostrich dinosaurs ate only meat, although without good grasping hands
or strong jaws they could kill only smaller animals, Others think that they were plant-eaters. Many suspect that like the modern ostrich, they ate small animals and plants.

### Fun Facts

Gallimimus may not be the largest of all the ostrich dinosaurs. The arms and hands of Deinocheirus from Mongolia seem to be the size of T. rex.

### Trivia

In Jurassic Park, Gallimimus is shown living in flocks. Paleontologists have not found skeletons of different Gallimimus together, but there are reports of such a discovery for an earlier Mongolian ostrich dinosaur.

## Links

http://web.archive.org/web/20040211174600fw\_/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_galli.html#

## References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallimimus

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/dinosaurs/gallimimus.htm

http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/dinosaur-walk/meet-the-skeletons/gallimimus/

http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/g/gallimimus.html

https://paleontologyworld.com/dinosaurs-%E2%80%93-species-encycolpedia/gallimimus