Fun Anserimimus Facts For Kids

The Anserimimus is a genus of small and lanky little dinosaurs that existed during the latest period of the Mesozoic era and managed to continue up to the Paleocene epoch. The Maastrichtian stage is the last stage of the upper Cretaceous as well as the entire Mesozoic era. It was followed by the transition of the Paleogene era. Several dinosaur species perished during this transition living a few of them behind. The Anserimimus is believed to be one of them.

The Anserimimus was closely related to another species of the Ornithomimidae community called Gallimimus but they lived outside Mongolia, in another geographical location so the two species are not biologically related. Rinchen Barsbold, the paleontologist who described the Anserimimus for the first time, found many features in the Anserimimus fossil that were not found in other dinosaurs of the same community. It was a family of fast-running dinosaurs that were either herbivores or omnivores. Most of the dinosaurs of this family belonged to the supercontinent Laurasia which got divided into Asia and North America later and they roamed during the Late Cretaceous era. To know more about this dinosaur, keep on reading the amazing facts.

For similar content check out Austroraptor and Ostafrikasaurus facts too.

How do you pronounce 'Anserimimus'?

The name Anserimimeus is pronounced as 'An-ser-e-mime-us' in English. The name Anserimimus is a synonym for goose mimic.

What type of dinosaur was an Anserimimus?

The Anserimimus (goose mimic) is a type of ornithomimid dinosaur that belonged to the clade Theropoda. They are a Mongolian community of dinosaurs that were found during the Late Cretaceous period. The theropods are characterized by hollow bones. Bronowicz in his thesis suggested that the Anserimimus could form a different taxon. However, there are some features of the Anserimimus that match with other ornithomimids. The Anserimimus showed all the typical characteristics of this community and therefore is believed to be an ornithomimid theropod genus.

In which geological period did Anserimimus roam the earth?

The Anserimimus (goose mimic) consists of dinosaur species that roamed around the earth during the Late Cretaceous age of the Mesozoic era. They existed during the geological period of the Last Cretaceous age and possibly survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The Anserimimus came into existence during the Maastrichtian stage. They emerged on earth for the first time around 72 million years ago with the onset of the Maastrichtian stage. They lived for about 13-14 million years on earth and became extinct around 65 million years ago.

When did Anserimimus become extinct?

The Anserimimus were widespread during the upper Cretaceous age on earth. After the Maastrichtian stage which began around 70 million years ago, the Anserimimus came into existence. They existed on the earth for more than 12 million years approximately. By the Danian age of the Paleocene era, the Anserimimus became extinct. The Danian stage began around 65 million years ago accordingly, the Anserimimus also became extinct 65 million years ago.

Where did Anserimimus live?

The remains of Anserimimus were recovered from a province of Mongolia known as Bayankhongor. It was discovered by Barsbold in a joint expedition of the Soviets and Mongolia to the Gobi Desert. The bones were found in the Nemegt Formation of primitive Asia along with the remains of many other Asian dinosaur species. Therefore, it is believed that Anserimimus might have roamed on the land of north Asia, primarily around Mongolia.

What was the Anserimimus' habitat?

The Anserimimus preferred to live in terrestrial habitats. The terrestrial species were found on lands ranging from forests to shorelines. The abundance of Anserimimus fossils in the Nemegt formation indicates that they were well adapted to the alluvial plain habitat of the region. It also consisted of a number of meandering rivers during that time.

Who did Anserimimus live with?

The social structure of the Anserimimus is unknown. There is no information on whether they lived in groups or alone.

How long did an Anserimimus live?

The Anserimimus lives throughout the Maastrichtian stage, which was the last stage of the Mesozoic era. It began around 70 million years ago and the Anserimimus emerged around 72 million years ago. After spending 13-14 million years they finally became extinct around 65 million years ago.

How did they reproduce?

The reproduction behavior of these upper Cretaceous species is unknown, it cannot be inferred from the fossils. Like all dinosaurs, they also reproduced by laying eggs but there is no information regarding the clutch size and nature of eggs.

What did Anserimimus look like?

The Anserimimus was a medium-size lanky dinosaur with powerful forelimbs and long claws. Only one species of Amserimimus called Anserimimus planinychus has been discovered. The specific name of the species translates to flat in Latin and claw in Greek. This symbolizes their flattened claws which is the characteristic feature of the dinosaur species. Paleontologists believe that it had fewer teeth.

How many bones did an Anserimimus have?

The total number of bones that were present in an Anserimimus's body is unknown. However, in their fossil collection, most of the bones of their body have been discovered except the Anserimimus skull.

How did they communicate?

A dinosaur communicates either vocally or visually. Similarly the Anserimimus also communicated using these two senses.

How big was Anserimimus?

The length of an Anserimimus ranged between 10-11 ft (3-3.35 m). They were similar in length to the Ohmdenosaurus of the early Jurassic era. The Anserimimus height is unknown.

How fast could an Anserimimus move?

The Anserimimus had lanky and thin body features so they could run very fast. However, their speed could not be determined from the fossil remains.

How much did an Anserimimus weigh?

The Anserimimus was a small and thin dinosaur community and their average weight was estimated to be around 110 lb (50 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

The male and the female dinosaurs did not have any particular names. Both of them were referred to as Anserimimus.

What would you call a baby Anserimimus?

A baby dinosaur is referred to as a nestling or hatchling.

What did they eat?

The Anserimimus were presumably omnivore ornithomimid dinosaurs of Mongolia. The structure of their claws and limbs differed from other ornithomimids so it is assumed that they possibly had a different type of diet. The ancestors of the Anserimimus were believed to be carnivorous therapods but it was either a herbivore or an omnivore. However, the actual nature of the diet of the descendants and what they ate exactly could not be described since the animal's skull was not found by the Mongolian discovery team.

How aggressive were they?

The Anserimimus was a small and omnivore Mongolian dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous age. They were not as aggressive as the large flesh eaters.

Did you know...

All dinosaurs of the Ornithomimidae community resemble a bird especially an ostrich. Even though the name Anserimimus means goose mimic, the bone structure of its type species does not resemble a goose.

Why are they called Anserimimus?

The term Anserimimus is a result of a combination of Latin and Greek terms. The Latin term Anser, meaning goose is combined with the Greek term Mimos which means mimic. The name Anserimimus meaning goose mimic probably resembled the general bird-like body features of the ornithomimids. All species of the Ornithomimidae family are named after the names of birds. For example, the name of the Ornithomimid Struthiomimus means ostrich mimic. The names of the ornithomimids Pelecanimimus and  Sinornithomimus mean pelican mimic and Chinese bird mimic respectively. There are several other ornithomimosaurs whose names translate to the name of a mimic bird. Consequently, the Anserimimus being an ornithomimid is named after the bird goose. However, the only type species of Anserimimus, Anserimimus planinychus do not particularly have goose-like body features.

How is Anserimimus different from other ornithomimids?

Till now, the discovery of only a single holotype of the Anserimimus has been possible. Except for the fossil of its type species, Anserimimus planinychus no other fossil related to the genus has been discovered. From the time of their discovery, the Anserimimus are subject to very limited information. Most of the skeleton of the species has been recovered from the sediments of the Late cretaceous era but a very limited bone description is not available. Barsbold, the paleontologist who described the Anserimimus focused largely on describing the features that set them apart from other ornithomimosaurs. In 2005, Robert e a full description of the Anserimimus in his unpublished thesis. In his thesis, it was seen that the skeleton Anserimimus species had many features that were not related to the other ornithomimids. They had much longer and powerful forelimbs than a typical Late Cretaceous ornithomimid of their built. The claws on the hands of an Anserimimus were also longer and flattened than other ornithomimosaurs. They had features closely related to the species of Gallimimus that belonged to the same community but were not from Mongolia.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! For more relatable content, check out these Harpymimus facts and Incisivosaurus facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable dinosaur teeth coloring pages.

*The first image is by Jordi Payà.

*The second image is by Eduard Solà