| Gallimimus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
|---|---|
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| An artist's illustration of Gallimimus bullatus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Ornithomimidae |
| Genus: | †Gallimimus Osmólska, Roniewics & Barsbold, 1972 |
| Species: | †G. bullatus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Gallimimus bullatus Osmólska, Roniewics & Barsbold, 1972 | |
Gallimimus bullatus(gal-IH-mime-US) was a fast, ostirich-like dinosaur, with a long, extended tail for balancing while running, and was rather intelligent by dinosaur standards. It had a long neck and large, round eyes, possibly for night vision, suggesting a nocturnal lifestyle (though there is no reason it wasn't diurnal).
The legs had powerful muscles but were slim near the feet, like the legs of all fast-running animals.
The long feathers may have been for display or to protect eggs and young.
Discovery[]
Jurassic Park's Gallimimus
Gallimimus was found in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia in early 1963 by Professor Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska. It was named by palaeontologist Richen Barsbold in 1972, who thought it looked rather rooster-like in appearance. Most fossils have been found in Mongolia. At the time only one species of Gallimimus was known, and it was dubbed Gallimimus bullatus, because of the bulbous swelling in the brain-case resembled a bulla; a capsule which was worn by Roman youths around their necks. A second species, "Gallimimus mongoliensis" was discovered in 1996.
Gallimimus Skeleton
Description[]
Gallimimus was the largest ornithomimosaur. One of the Gallimimus specimens, IGM 100/11, was 6 meters long and 1.9 metres tall at its hip. Its skull was 330 millimeters in length, and the femur was 660 millimeters in length. The weight of IGM 100/11 was estimated to be 440–450 kilograms. There's a juvenile Gallimimus specimen, known ZPAL MgD-I/94, which was wround 2.15 meters long, 0.79 meters tall at it's hip, and 26 kg. It was revealed that Gallimimus were feathered like other ornithomimosaurs, due to the wing-like structures that was proven by the presence of quill-knobs on the ulna bone of the lower arm, which are bumps that indicate where feathers would have attached.
Classification[]
Struthomimus was the closest relative to the Gallimimus.
Paleobiology[]
The cervical vertebrae of Gallimimus indicate that it held its neck obliquely, declining upwards at an angle of 35 degrees. Osmólska and colleagues found that the hands of Gallimimus were not prehensile (or capable of grasping), and that the thumb was not opposable. They also stated that the arms were weak compared to, those of Deinocheirus. They agreed with the interpretations of ornithomimid biology by palaeontologist Dale Russell from earlier in 1972, including that they would have been very fleet animals, although less agile than large, modern ground birds, and would have used their speed to escape predators. Russell also proposed that they had a good sense of vision and intelligence comparable to that of modern land running birds. Since their predators may have had color vision, he suggested it would have influenced their coloration, which results in camouflage. In 1982, palaeontologist Richard A. Thulborn estimated that Gallimimus could have run at speeds of 42–56 km/h. He found that ornithimimids would not have been as fast as ostriches, which can reach 70–80 km/h due to their arms and tails increasing their weight.
Paleoenvironments[]
Gallimimus became well-known in the Nemegt Formation located in the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia. Gallimimus lived alongside with Shamosuchus, Gurilynia, Judinornis, Teviornis, Tarchia, Prenocephale, Saurolophus, Barsboldia, Nemegtosaurus, Opisthocoelicaudia, Tarbosaurus, Alioramus, Bagaraatan, Borogovia, Tochisaurus, Zanabazar, Therizinosaurus, Elmisaurus, Nemegtomaia, and Rinchenia.
In the Media[]
- Gallimimus was shown in nearly all of the Jurassic Park films, with the exception of Jurassic Park III. In the 1st film, a herd of them was briefly seen as a stampeding herd that ran at three of the protagonists, and one was then attacked and eaten by Rexy the Tyrannosaurus rex. In the 2nd film, they were known to have resided in the southeast of Isla Sorna coexisting with other herbivores Mamenchisaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Pachycephalosaurus. Gallimimus also made up a good portion of the fauna of that region. The two adults were captured by the InGen Hunters for Peter Ludlow's Jurassic Park San Diego, but was freed the following night by Nick Van Owen and the Gatherers along with the rest of the dinosaurs held captive by the hunters. In the 4th film, they retained many characteristics of the previous clones albeit being a foot taller and having teeth which is inaccurate to the real animal and being different colors, orange with a creamy underbelly and brown stripes on the backs. The theropods lived in the self-titled Gallimimus Valley. Some of the juveniles also lived in the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo. In the 5th film, it is revealed that there are surviving Gallimimus populations on Isla Nublar, as they will now face an impending danger, alongside many other creatures, in the form of an erupting volcano. They were seen running alongside many other species away from Mount Sibo.
- Also, in the Carnivores series, they appear as ambient creatures that run away if the player is to close.
- They also made a few appearances in The Land Before Time film series.
- Gallimimus appears in Jurassic World: Evolution as revealed by its' species profile. Its' design is based on the Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom variants.
- Gallimimus is a common in Jurassic World: Alive Its' design is based on the Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom variants.
- They are also a playable dinosaur in the game Dinosaur King.
- It also appears as a playable dinosaur in the ROBLOX game "Era of Terror" as well as its remake, "Era of Terror: Remastered", and in another ROBLOX game, Prior Exctinction.
- In Dino King: Journey To Fire Mountain, a lot of Gallimimus offspring are one of the dinosaurs seen in the compound, alongside Huaxiaosaurus, Nanshiungosaurus, Oviraptor, Pachycephalosaurus, Protoceratops, Ruyangosaurus, Saurolophus, Torosaurus, Tsintaosaurus, Velociraptor and Zhuchengtyrannus
- Gallimimus appeared in the game ARK: Survival Evolved.
- Gallimimus appeared on Dinosaur Train
Anatomy[]
It is likely that Gallimimus was a very intelligent creature, based on mass and the proportion to the brain, meaning that they were probably quite smart among most dinosaurs. It shared many features with its relatives. such as Struthiomimus and Ornithomimus. It is guessed that Gallimimus was an omnivore, similiar to the Oviraptor. Its main diet consisted of small lizards and bugs, some eggs, and some plants. Gallimimus ran on two slender legs. It's predicted to have been ostrich-like, and most likely had feathers, given that feathers were preserved in it's relatives and more massive feathered dinosaurs did exist. It had a long, flat, toothless beak, with the lower jaw being shaped like a shovel, a tool which would have probably been helpful in crunching hard materials like nuts or roots. It weighed about 970 lbs and was about 8 meters (26 feet) in length, making it one of the largest of ornithomimids. It had three claws on each arm, with three on each foot. The tail, like many other dinosaurs, was meant for balance, especially while they were running. Like other ornithomimids, it was a very fast runner, possibly capable of running up to 50 mph, which is about the same as an ostirich's top speed and over twice as fast as Olympic sprinters! Gallimimus also had large eyes, which possibly suggests that they were nocturnal dinosaurs like the Troodon.
Galimimus from Dinosaurs in the Beginning
Gallery[]
Gallimimus/Gallery
References[]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallimimus
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/dinosaurs/gallimimus.htm
http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/g/gallimimus.html
https://paleontologyworld.com/dinosaurs-%E2%80%93-species-encycolpedia/gallimimus