Gallimimus

dinosaur · fast runner · Late Cretaceous · Mongolia

Chicken mimic dinosaur. Gallimimus got its name because its neck bones looked remarkably similar to a chicken's neck bones, which is why scientists called it the 'chicken mimic' dinosaur.

Discovered in the Gobi. Polish and Mongolian explorers found several Gallimimus fossils in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia during the 1960s, including skeletons at different stages of growth.

Bulbous skull bump. The species name 'bullatus' comes from a bulge-like structure at the base of Gallimimus' skull, which reminded scientists of a golden capsule that Roman children wore.

Best preserved ornithomimid. When Gallimimus was named in 1972, it had the most complete and best preserved fossils of any chicken-mimic dinosaur ever found, and it's still one of the best known today.

Late Cretaceous runner. This dinosaur lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous period, millions of years before dinosaurs went extinct.