Struthiomimus

What it was like

Struthiomimus looked much like a large, long-legged ostrich, with a long neck, a small toothless head, and slim, grasping hands. It grew to about 4.3 meters (14 feet) long and was almost certainly a fast runner, built for sprinting away from danger rather than fighting it.

Its toothless beak suggests Struthiomimus ate a broad range of food, probably including plants, seeds, and small animals, similar to how ostriches and other modern flightless birds forage today.

Its world

Struthiomimus lived from about 84 to 66 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, mainly in what is now Alberta, in Canada, with fossils also reported from Wyoming, in the United States.

It shared its world with the horned Triceratops, the predator Tyrannosaurus, the tyrannosaurid Albertosaurus, and Ornithomimus, another long-legged relative that lived in the same region.

How it was found

Osborn named Struthiomimus in 1916. Around 13 fossil finds are known, among the better-represented ornithomimids, giving a good picture of its skeleton and proportions. Its closest relatives include Ornithomimus, Gallimimus, and Archaeornithomimus, all members of the ostrich-mimic family Ornithomimidae.