Fun Neimongosaurus Facts For Kids

The name Neimongosaurus is a name derived from the Greek for 'Inner Mongolian lizard'. Neimongosaurus is an Asian dinosaur of genus Therizinosaur that lived during the Upper Cretaceous period. This therizinosauroid dinosaur is believed to have lived in the Iren Dabasu Formation of Nei Mongol, the People's Republic of China, according to the Vertebrata Pal Asiatica 39(4): 282-290. This dinosaur was originally classed as a member of Therizinosauridae. However, according to the later interpretations and the original idea, Neimongosaurus belongs in the group Therizinosauroidea, which would mean that this dinosaur was more primitive in form. This Upper Cretaceous dinosaur is well known for its long neck. Neimongosaurus, like other Therizinosaurs, descends from the theropods that are traditionally meat-eating dinosaurs. However, the teeth in their lower jaw, which have coarse serrations, suggest otherwise. According to the teeth specimens, Neimongausaurus were plant-eating dinosaurs. The primary information on the dinosaur is available through Paleobiology Database (PBDB)X.-H. Zhang, X. Xu, and X.-J. Zhao, P. C. Sereno, X.-W. Kuang, L. Tan. 2001. A.

For more relatable content, check out these Epanterias facts and Austroraptor facts for kids.

How do you pronounce 'Neimongosaurus'?

The name of this therizinosaur theropod dinosaur, Neimongosaurus, is pronounced 'nigh-mon-go-sore-us'.

What type of dinosaur was a Neimongosaurus?

The Neimongosaurus yangi, genus Neimongosaurus, was a bizarre and pot-bellied therizinosaur.

In which geological period did the Neimongosaurus roam the Earth?

The remains of the family of these Neimongosaurus yangi therizinosaurs are estimated to have been living in the world during the middle Cretaceous period, approximately 90 million years ago.

When did Neimongosaurus become extinct?

According to their fossil discovery, it has been approximated that they went extinct around 70 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period. Around this time, the species of Neimongosaurus must have gone extinct during the Cenomanian stage.

Where did Neimongosaurus live?

According to the discovery of the Neimongosaurus yangi (genus Neimongosaurus) fossils, it has been concluded that the species must have lived in what would be present-day China (Iren Dabasu Formation) and Kazakhstan (Bostobe Formation).

What was the Neimongosaurus' habitat?

Neimongosauruses are believed to have lived in terrestrial habitats in the woodlands of Central Asia. According to many studies done on dinosaur species, it has been found that most dinosaurs preferred living along ancient rivers and streams. They would roam in forested floodplains and densely vegetated swamps and lakes. On the other hand, the Cretaceous period is known for a relatively warm climate that resulted in high eustatic sea levels, creating numerous shallow inland seas. These water bodies were populated with marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, which are all extinct now.

Who did a Neimongosaurus live with?

Neimongosaurus yangi lived through the middle to late Cretaceous period with other dinosaur species like Oviraptor, Segnosaurus, Khaan, and Tarbosaurus, who possibly lived in the same region as them.

How long did a Neimongosaurus live?

Neimongosauruses are believed to have lived from the middle to the late Cretaceous period, approximately for the range from 90-70.6 million years ago. The length of their lifespan, however, is not known.

How did they reproduce?

Based on the Therizinosauroidea, the reproduction of this therizinosauroid from the Upper Cretaceous period, Neimongosaurus yangi, is believed to be oviparous. This means that they are believed to reproduce by laying eggs.

What did the Neimongosaurus look like?

*We've been unable to source an image of Neimongosaurus and have used an image of Segnosaurus instead, which is a related therizinosaur. If you are able to provide us with a royalty-free image of Neimongosaurus, we would be happy to credit you. Please contact us at [email protected].

Neimongosaurus dinosaurs are known to have long necks and long claws on their front hands. It is also believed that these dinosaurs were feathered and had a big belly, small head, ridged teeth, and oversized front claws, which is common with most therizinosaurs. Their claws suggest a herbivorous diet instead of a carnivorous diet since the claws were probably used for ripping and shredding vegetable matter instead of small dinosaurs. Neimongosaurus is also a small-sized therizinosaur and is believed to have been a bipedal and ponderous creature with well-developed hindlimbs. Their femur was also measured to be 14.4 in (36.6 cm) long with a straight shaft and the femoral head pointing to the inner sides. Both the tibiae for the Neimongosaurus are preserved and are shorter in length than its femur. This therizinosauroid from the Upper Cretaceous is also believed to have had a U-shaped lower jaw, of which only the right denture is preserved. For the Neimongosaurus, one tooth is also preserved from the five alveoli, which is coarsely serrated, again suggesting a herbivorous diet for the dinosaur species like all the other therizinosaurs like Alxasaurus and Erlikosaurus. Its long and elongated neck was also composed of approximately 16 cervicals. It is believed that the scapula for the Neimongosaurus species has had a tapering end. The forelimbs for the species are also preserved, but the manus is missing from it.

How many bones did a Neimongosaurus have?

The fossil representation for these theropods includes hollow bones and three-toed limbs. Neimongosaurus yangi is a therizinosauroid dinosaur that is known from the classification of the holotype specimen LH V0001. This holotype specimen classification consists of a partly preserved braincase, the front of the right lower jaw, a nearly complete axial column comprising 15 cervical (including the axis), four dorsal, and 22 caudal vertebrae. Besides these, fossil representation also consists of furcula, both scapulocoracoids, both humeri, left radius, fragmented ilia, both femora, both tibiae, left tarsals, and a virtually complete and articulated left pes. There was also a classification on the second specimen LH V0008, which consists of a sacrum composed of six sacral vertebrae and both ilia. This specimen was assigned as the paratype. These specimens were collected at the Sanhangobi in 1999 in Inner Mongolia from the Iren Dabasu Formation. The specimens are believed to be dating from the Cenomanian stage.

How did they communicate?

It is unknown how exactly the Neimongosaurus yangi communicated with each other or the dinosaurs of other species. But in the review of pre-historic animal sounds, Philip J. Senter, an American paleontologist and a professor of Zoology at Fayetteville State University, very popularly known for his researches focusing on dinosaur paleobiology, believed that the dinosaurs used to communicate by hissing, clapping their jaws together, grinding mandibles against upper jaws, rubbing scales together and by the use of environmental materials like splashing against water. It is also believed that the dinosaurs communicated vocally and visually. These two modes of communication would have been most used during defensive posturing, courtship behavior, and territory fights. According to the same assumption, it is believed that the head crests of some species like Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus were used to amplify grunts or bellow.

How big was a Neimongosaurus?

The exact measurements regarding Neimongosaurus' height and length are unknown; however, the Neimongosaurus' size is estimated to be about 7.5-9.8 ft (2.3-3 m) long.

How fast could a Neimongosaurus move?

As based on other theropods, Neimongosaurus are considered to be actively mobile bipedal dinosaur species. Although it is unknown how fast they could have been able to move, it is highly possible that they would have been swift movers, given the need to escape big dinosaur predators that would prey on them for food.

How much did a Neimongosaurus weigh?

The Neimongosaurus yangi weighed around 200.6-500.4 lb (91-227 kg).

What were the male and female names of the species?

The female and male Neimongosaurus yangi dinosaurs have not been given any sex-specific names.

What would you call a baby Neimongosaurus?

Since the Neimongosaurus yangi reproduces by laying eggs and the new ones are born when the eggs hatch, the baby Neimongosaurus yangi can be called hatchling or nestling. This generalized term can be used for all the dinosaurs since they were all hatched from eggs. In the case of theropods, dinosaurs that resemble birds, a baby theropod can also be referred to as a chick.

What did they eat?

The teeth from the lower jaw of Neimongosaurus yangi suggest that they were herbivorous dinosaurs. They relied on plant material and vegetation for food and followed a strict herbivorous diet. The plant vegetation in the Cretaceous period is believed to have included plants like the cycads, ginkgoes, conifers, and ferns.

How aggressive were they?

According to the Allosaurids (Molnar & Farlow, 1990) and the Tyrannosaurids (Molnar, 1991), theropods have been postulated to have aggressive behavior. Even though theropods are herbivorous in nature, this aggressive nature is justified by the fact that the theropods ancestrally were not herbivorous but instead carnivorous in nature. This would require them to be aggressive enough to prey on other creatures for food. But as time evolved, a number of theropod groups became herbivore, omnivore, piscivore, and insectivore in nature.

Did you know...

From the Upper Cretaceous period, this therizinosauroid is a dinosaur closely related to the most famous therizinosaur of all the therizinosaur species, the eponymous Therizinosaurus.

Why are they called Neimongosaurus?

Based on the discovery of the fossils of these Cretaceous dinosaurs, the type specimen Neimongosaurus yangi was initially described in 2001 by Zhang Xiaohong, Xu Xing, Paul Sereno, Kwang Xuwen, and Tan Lin. The generic name, Neimongosaurus, is derived from the name Nei Mongol which is the Chinese name for Inner Mongolia. Whereas the specific name, Neimongosaurus yangi, is named in honor of Yang Zhongjian, also known as the 'Father of Chinese Vertebrate Paleontology', who was a Chinese paleontologist and zoologist and was one of China's foremost vertebrate paleontologists.

Were the Neimongosaurus herbivores?

The Neimongosaurus dinosaurs were herbivorous in nature. However, it has been suggested through different paleontologists that the theropods did not always follow the herbivorous diet. It is believed that the theropods ancestrally had a carnivorous diet. It was only through time that a large number of theropod groups evolved to follow one of the herbivorous, omnivorous, piscivorous, or insectivorous diets. Similarly, after studying the teeth from the lower jaw of this dinosaur from Mongolia, it was found that they would have been herbivores too.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other dinosaurs from our Timimus facts and Kryptops facts pages.

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

Main image by Michael B. H.

Second image by Paleo Neolitic.