Mononykus muh-NONIHKUHS
"one claw"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Mononykus 1.2 m (3.9 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
- Length
- 1.2 m (3.9 ft)
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (100–66 Mya)
- Place
- Mongolia
- Food
- Carnivore
- Clade
- Alvarezsauridae
Mononykus ( , sometimes ; meaning “one claw”) is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia, specifically the Nemegt Formation. Mononykus was a very small theropod, estimated around 1 – 1.2 m in length with a weight of 3.5 kg. As in Shuvuuia, Mononykus likely developed a shaggy feathering. It was lightly built with long, thin legs and highly reduced and specialized forelimbs that were likely used for foraging termite mounds or other insect colonies.
What we know
- Named by Perle et al., 1993.
- Body length estimated at about 1.2 m.
- Fossils found in Mongolia.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Mononykus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.