Fun Sciurumimus Facts For Kids

The Sciurumimus was a Tetanuran as well as a Theropod. It roamed the Earth during the Tithonian and the Kimmeridgian stages of the late Jurassic period.

The only known fossil specimen of the Sciurumimus was discovered in today's Germany. Specifically, it was found in Painten, a municipality in Lower Bavaria, in the limestone quarry close to Rygol.

Sciurumimus dinosaurs are known to have inhabited islands, beaches, and coasts. One of the peculiar things about Sciurumimus dinosaurs as observed in the specimen is that they definitely had feather filaments, one of the few dinosaurs that did. These feathered Theropods were also very small, 28 in (71.1 cm) long with a weight of around 16.2 oz (460 g).

They also had short forelimbs. They were also carnivorous and insectivorous since they mainly ate insects.

The name of the dinosaur, Sciurumimus, translates to 'squirrel-mimic' since the tail of this dinosaur resembles that of a modern tree squirrel. The species was described by Oliver W. M. Rauhut.

For more relatable content, check out these Lukousaurus facts and Anserimimus facts for kids.

Sciurumimus Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Sciurumimus'?

Sciurumimus is pronounced as 'Se-ur-u-my-mus'.

What type of dinosaur was a Sciurumimus?

The Sciurumimus (Sciurumimus albersdoerferi) was a Tetanuran and a Theropod.

In which geological period did the Sciurumimus roam the Earth?

The Sciurumimus (Sciurumimus albersdoerferi) walked the Earth in the late Jurassic period, in the Tithonian age and the Kimmeridgian age.

When did the Sciurumimus become extinct?

Sciurumimus Theropods went extinct about 145 million years ago.

Where did the Sciurumimus live?

Sciurumimus theropods inhabited the region that is now Germany.

The only specimen of a Sciurumimus juvenile was found in Lower Bavaria, near the municipality of Painten, in the limestone Rygol quarry.

What was the Sciurumimus' habitat?

The extinct genus of Scirumimus theropods lived in terrestrial habitats, possibly close to coasts, beaches, and islands.

Who did the Sciurumimus live with?

It is not clear whether these Sciurumimus dinosaurs lived alone or in groups, but being smaller insectivores, they probably had some form of social hierarchy.

How long did a Sciurumimus live?

The Sciurumimus dinosaur could've lived anywhere between 30-80 years.

How did they reproduce?

Sciurumimus dinosaurs reproduced by mating with each other and laying eggs that hatched into juveniles and eventually grew into Sciurumimus adult dinosaurs.

Sciurumimus Fun Facts

What did the Sciurumimus look like?

Only one complete holotype has been discovered belonging to the Sciurumimus. It was preserved very well with a complete skeleton intact.

There were also some details that had information about the soft tissue of the Sciurumimus. Size-wise, the Sciurumimus is proportionate to the Juravenator Coelurosaur juvenile but certain anatomical details are significantly different.

The skull of the Sciurumimus is 156% bigger than the femur and even longer than the vertebrae series of the cervix.

The Sciurumimus species specimen represents a juvenile because of the short forelimbs, small body proportions, the skeleton's lack of fusion, a small skull, and a regular morphology in the teeth. The individual in the specimen had died post-hatching, probably early on in its life, the lack of fusion being the most common thing seen in juveniles.

One of the most peculiar things about the fossil of the Sciurumimus was that it had filamentous feather-like plumage that had been well preserved on several parts of the body including the base of the tail.

The exact position of the filamentous plumage on the body of Sciurumimus feathers is not known. Feather structures are akin to stage 1 feathers found in Ornithischians like Dilong, the basal Tyrannosaur; and Beipiaosaurus, the basal Therizinosauroid.

Most of the soft tissue preserved with traces of filaments of feathers in the Sciurumimus fossil holotype represents integumentary structures, and a small patch of this may be the tissue of muscle structures that were near the tibia's rear edge.

The feathered theropod Sciurumimus is one of the few dinosaurs that is known to have had feathers. When the specimen was preserved and put under ultraviolet light, primitive protofeathers were clearly observed on the skull and elsewhere.

The Sciurumimus was initially classified as a Megalosauroid but not as one belonging to the Coelurosauroidae family. The Coelurosauridae family consists of Theropods that are known to have had an evolution of feathers and other 'lizard-hipped' characteristics of Saurischian dinosaurs. Findings from the Sciurumimus also contribute to research about feathered dinosaurs.

Add to this the discovery of feather-like growths on the opposite type of dinosaurs,‭ ‬the‭ ‘‬bird hipped‭’ ‬Ornithischians such as the Psittacosaurus,‭ ‬and it is probable that genetic markers for feather growth existed in dinosaurs all the way back to their early origins in the Triassic period.‭ ‬How much further than this is hard to be certain,‭ ‬but hair-like growths called pycnofibres are known in Pterosaurs‭ (‬a group of flying reptiles separate from dinosaurs‭)‬,‭ ‬and even mammals with their hair have their ancient origins in reptilian ancestors through the synapsid and therapsid lineage that began before the appearance of dinosaurs.‭ ‬The discovery and study of the Sciurumimus is further proof that many dinosaurs were feathered,‭ ‬though this does not seem to be a hard and fast rule that can be applied to all dinosaurs since skin impressions of other genera show that they were not feathered.‭ ‬Another idea that is no longer valid is that all dinosaurs that were feathered were small like the Sciurumimus ‬since discoveries of the Therizinosaur Beipiaosaurus and particularly the Tyrannosaur Yutyrannus are proof that at least some large carnivorous dinosaurs were also feathered.

The late Jurassic-era Sciurumimus had slender and not-so-strong teeth. They were a bit pointed. The number of teeth on the premaxilla was four. Premaxilla teeth were not serrated. There were also 12-14 dentary teeth and about 11 maxillary teeth. Dentary teeth did show some serrations.

How many bones did a Sciurumimus have?

The exact number of bones that a Sciurumimus had is not known, since only one specimen of the dinosaur has been found in southern Germany and the specimen was that of a juvenile.

How did they communicate?

The way Sciurumimus dinosaurs communicated is rather speculative. They probably used physical displays for mating and territorial claims. They may have also utilized sounds like hoots and grunts.

How big was the Sciurumimus?

The Sciurumimus was 28 in (71.1 cm) long, which makes it 10 times smaller than the Appalachiosaurus.

How fast could a Sciurumimus move?

Exact speeds of the Sciurumimus are not known but being smaller, they may have been faster than the average dinosaur.

How much did a Sciurumimus weigh?

The Sciurumimus dinosaur weighed 16.2 oz (460 g).

What were the male and female names of the species?

Males and females of the Sciurumimus genus and species did not have any specific names.

What would you call a baby Sciurumimus?

A baby Sciurumimus, since it would've come out of an egg, would have been called a nestling or a hatchling.

What did they eat?

Sciurumimus dinosaurs mainly ate insects but may have also fed on other small creatures.

How aggressive were they?

Sciurumimus dinosaurs were small and insectivorous, which implies that they weren't very aggressive in nature.

Did you know...

Oliver W. M. Rauhut was responsible for describing the Sciurumimus dinosaur's type species.

A phylogenetic analysis of the Sciurumimus was performed upon its discovery which revealed that it belonged to the primitive Megalosauroidae clade. The Megalosauroidae clade consists of big carnivorous dinosaurs that were even more primitive than other Theropods like Carnosaurs and Tyrannosauroids that are much better known.

This makes the Sciurumimus one of the basal feathered theropods like ones from these two groups.

This very classification of the basal Theropod Sciurumimus was verified by one analysis out of three. The remaining two analyses are not as supported, and they found that the Sciurumimus was closely related to the Avetheropoda and the Monolophosaurus.

Them being closely related to these two groups is conspicuous.

The position of the Sciurumimus among these closely related Megalosauroids and these Avetheropods is also unresolved. Analyses and the position of the Sciurumimus have been made difficult by the fact that the only discovered fossil specimen was that of a juvenile.

The first study was maligned by many researchers.

Researchers noted that some parts of the former analysis had scientists plugging in data from new fossils which was incomplete and missing key pieces of relevance from several species. In the Sciurumimus analysis that was published in 2013, the dinosaur was determined to be an early dinosaur from the Coelurosauria, which is a more derived group than Megalosauroid dinosaurs.

However, this analysis may have been too concerned with the Coelurosauria and the dataset only had one Megalosauroid and just four terminal taxa that weren't part of the Coelurosauria.

There were also some analyses of the Sciurumimus that determined that the dinosaur was an Allusauroid or a Tetanuran that was actually outside Avetheropoda. The paleontologist Gregory S. Paul placed it alongside basal neocoelurosaurs.

A detailed reanalysis was performed in Hartman et al.

(2019) supplementary material and this determined that certain characters had been misscored and when the not-correct Sciurumimus was noted in the matrix, the Juravenator was a basal Tetanuran too, and if the Sciurumimus was not included, the Juravenator was a basal Coelurosaur too.

Finally, the Sciurumimus was determined to be a Compsognathid, with the note that even this position was tentative.

In the 2020 classification, Foth C. once again placed it in the Megalosauroidae clade, this time with the Juravenator.

Why are they called Sciurumimus?

The name Sciurumimus means 'squirrel-mimic'. This dinosaur had been named for its tail, which bears a resemblance to the modern tree squirrel.

How strong were the Sciurumimus teeth?

Sciurumimus dinosaurs hunted smaller prey and mostly insects. Accordingly, their teeth were slender and not extremely strong. They were, however, pointed. The premaxilla of a Sciurumimus had four teeth that were not serrated, 12-14 dentary teeth, and 11 maxillary teeth. The dentary teeth were curved and had some serrations on the distal side.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other dinosaurs from our Aoniraptor surprising facts and Nomingia fun facts for kids pages.

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

Main image by Emily Willoughby.

Second image by Ghedoghedo.