Fun Tianyuraptor Facts For Kids

The Tianyuraptor was a relatively small dinosaur that roamed the continent of Asia around China. Fossils of this species have been discovered in the Dawangzhangzi Bed of the Yixian Formation in Lingyuan in west Liaoning in China. According to the specimen, they were around 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m) long, and the tail alone was 38 in (96.5 cm) long. They had some attractive features that also made them unique. According to scholars, they had feathers on both their dorsal and ventral bodies. They had small and weak hands and mostly preyed with their teeth. They roamed the Earth in the Early Cretaceous around 122 million years ago. They are one of the bigger Microraptors and belong to the family Dromaeosauridae. The specimen discovered has been kept in the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature.

Hope you liked this small read. Ahead in the article, there are more interesting and awesome facts about this dinosaur waiting for you. Keep reading!

For more relevant content check out our Atrociraptor and Enigmosaurus facts pages.

How do you pronounce 'Tianyuraptor'?

Tianyuraptor fossils were found in China, and that's why it is assumed that these short-armed dinosaurs roamed China. Tianyuraptor is commonly pronounced as 'ti aan eu rap ter'.

What type of dinosaur was a Tianyuraptor?

Tianyuraptors were short-armed dinosaurs who roamed the continent of Asia around China. They were in the family of Dromaeosauridae, types of dinosaurs who had feathers and were carnivorous. They were hollow boned and were in the dinosaur claude Theropoda. Their scientific name is Tianyuraptor ostromi.

In which geological period did the Tianyuraptor roam the earth?

According to the specimens found, Tianyuraptor dinosaurs used to roam around China during the Early Cretaceous period in the Mesozoic era.

When did the Tianyuraptor become extinct?

The Tianyuraptor species roamed around China during the Early Cretaceous period and hopefully had gone extinct by 'early' Lower Cretaceous period. The specimen that was discovered in the Yixian formation in Liaoning in China was around 122 million years old.

Where did a Tianyuraptor live?

The Tianyuraptor belonged to the family Dromaeosauridae, and the term 'Dromaeosauridae' means running lizards. So it can be assumed that they were terrestrial and used to feed on land.

What was a Tianyuraptor's habitat?

The Tianyuraptor inhabited the Asian continent and had lived and roamed around China. For proof, fossils of Tianyuraptor were found in the Yixian Formation in Liaoning in China.

Who did a Tianyuraptor live with?

There is no exact record of the Tianyuraptor being either social or solitary. According to experts, raptor species were solitary eaters and used to prey alone. They used to form pairs only for breeding.

How long did a Tianyuraptor live?

There is no exact record available on how long they could live. Tianyuraptors were a Microraptor species that roamed the Earth around 122 million years ago.

How did they reproduce?

Reptiles are oviparous species, meaning they laid eggs in order to give birth to their young ones. Tianyuraptors were lizards like creatures who roamed on two legs. We can assume that they mated like big lizards that we see today.

What did a Tianyuraptor look like?

Tianyuraptors were Theropoda and Microraptor species from the family Dromaeosauridae. They were medium-sized raptors that had feathers on their body and were like birds. According to phylogenetic studies, they have special features which make them wonderful and unique. Tianyuraptors had long vertebrae. The tail bone was more than double the size of the backbone and was very flexible. They used to walk on two legs. The hindlimbs were strong and well built but on the other hand, the forelimbs or arms were thin and short. The forelimbs or arms were almost half the size of the hindlimbs or legs, which is a unique thing in itself as most of the similar species had comparatively longer arms. The difference in the size of arms if compared to other dromaeosaurs narrates that the usage of these arms was different. Maybe they were short-armed because they used them less or maybe they could only catch their prey with their mouth and had no need to hold them or tear them with hands.

Most other Microraptors were winged dinosaurs and had aerial adaptations, and could fly or glide. But in Tianyuraptors, no such features have been seen. More assumptions we can make are that they had sharp teeth and strong jaws because they were carnivorous and had small hands. Tianyuraptors had a body length of around 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m) and the tail contributed to half of the total Tianyuraptor size. The length of the tail is assumed to have been around 38 in (96.5 cm). There are no assumptions on their weight.

How many bones did a Tianyuraptor have?

Tianyuraptors were a small dinosaur species that roamed in Asia. There is no exact information on how many bones a Tianyuraptor had, but dinosaurs, in general, had around 200 bones in their body.

How did they communicate?

Tianyuraptors were carnivorous lizards that roamed on two legs. They might have communicated through screeching roars or shrill notes.

How big was a Tianyuraptor?

The Tianyuraptor was a short-armed Theropoda dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period. It was one of the big Microraptors that had small arms, strong legs, and a long tail, and a lot of other awesome features. The Tianyuraptor had an average body length of around 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m), and the tail itself was 38 in (96 cm) long. There is no definite answer to their weight.

How fast could a Tianyuraptor move?

There is no information available on how fast a Tianyuraptor could run.

How much did a Tianyuraptor weigh?

According to the specimen discovered in China, Tianyuraptors had a body length of around 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m), and the length of their tail alone was 38 in (96.5 cm). There is no information available on their weight.

What were the male and female names of the species?

There are no specific names assigned to the males and females of this dinosaur species. They are commonly known as Tianyuraptor and have no recorded differences in them. We can again assume that both males and females were of the same size, or maybe the males were a bit bigger.

What would you call a baby Tianyuraptor?

As dinosaur babies come out of eggs, we commonly call them as hatchlings.

What did they eat?

Tianyuraptor are considered as carnivorous dinosaurs in the family of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. They were around 5 ft 10 in (1.8 m) long and preyed on smaller land creatures. They had small hands, so their mouth played a big role in catching and tearing the prey. They were most probably solitary eaters and hence preyed alone.

How aggressive were they?

Tianyuraptor dinosaurs were carnivorous in nature, so we can assume that they were a bit aggressive. As solitary eaters, they might have had their feeding territory, and due to that, territorial fighting might have happened.

Did you know...

Argentinosaurus is considered as one of the biggest dinosaurs that ever lived on this planet.

Why are they called 'Tianyuraptor'?

The Tianyuraptor, scientifically known as Tianyuraptor ostromi, is a Chinese dinosaur that roamed the Earth during the Early Cretaceous around 122 million years ago. The name Tianyuraptor ostromi was given after a lot of thinking. The genus name 'Tianyuraptor' has two parts, namely 'tianyu' and 'raptor'. The name 'tianyu' was given after the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature, where the fossil of this dinosaur is preserved, and 'raptor' in Latin means a 'robber'. The species name ostromi was kept in honor of John Ostrom, a dinosaur expert.

How was the Tianyuraptor discovered?

The Tianyuraptor fossil was discovered in the Dawangzhangzi Bed of the Yixian Formation in Lingyuan in western Liaoning in China.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other creatures from our Paronychodon fun facts or Linheraptor facts for kids.

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