Nomingia
Nomingia gobiensis
Pronounced:
no-Ming-ee-uh
Diet:
Carnivore
(meat-eater)
Name
Means:
"Nomingiin"
(a part
of the
Gobi
Desert)
Length:
3 feet
(1 m)
Height:
unknown
Weight:
unknown
Time:
Late
Cretaceous
- 68
million
years
ago
Fossil remains for this Dinosaur have been found in Asia
This little dinosaur was just about ready to fly! Well, it was at least on its way to becoming a bird. Nomingia is a good example of the term "missing link". For many years scientists have argued about the theory that dinosaurs evolved into birds. While we know that some dinosaurs had feathers and some, like Archaeopteryx could probably fly, no one had really found a dinosaur that was in the process of changing into a bird. Nomingia wasn't really ready to fly, but this dinosaur definitely was developing some of the features of modern birds. The most important was a short tail that ended in what is called a pygostyle. This is the type of bone that birds have so their tail feathers can attach to their bodies. It lets them steer while flying.
Nomingia
exhibited
many
characteristics
of the
typical
Oviraptor
id. It had a
beak, long
arms with
long claws,
and long
legs. Some
scientists
note that,
despite the
move toward
bird-like
characteristics,
members of
this family
are not
thought to
have become
avians. |
