Saurornithoides

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iSaurornithoides Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Saurischia Suborder: Theropoda (unranked) Deinonychosauria Family: Troodontidae Genus: Saurornithoides Osborn, 1924
Species
S. mongoliensis (type)

Saurornithoides (SAWR-or-nih-THOY-deez) was a troodontid maniraptoran dinosaur, living during the Late Cretaceous Period. These creatures were predators, which could run fast on their hind legs and had excellent sight and hearing. The name is derived from the Greek stems sauros (lizard), ornithos (bird) and oid (form), an appropriate name for a creature close to the ancestry of birds.

Saurornithoides, like others in its family, was a predator. Estimates of its length range from 2 to 3 meters and weight from 50 to 120 pounds. It had large eye sockets and stereoscopic vision, allowing for good depth perception. It probably had good vision in light and very good night vision. It had a long, low head, a depressed muzzle, sharp teeth and a relatively large brain. Scientists speculate that it used its long 'arms' and grasping 'hands' to seize live prey, which would have consisted of small animals. Like other troodontids, it had one long claw, the 4th toe on each hind foot.

Fossils of this theropod have been found in Mongolia. Saurornithoides was named by paleontologist Osborn in 1924. The type species is S. mongoliensis.

[edit] In popular culture

A few scientists, including one devoted to the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence such as Frank Drake, argue that Saurornithoides were well on their way to developing human-like intelligence. Drake uses the Saurornithoides as an example of how intelligence could develop in non-human species, including those from other planets. ^{[citation needed]}

Saurornithoides, like most deinonychosaurs, had large braincases, a feature that sometimes corresponds to high intelligence. While the brain mass of some dinosaurs was just a few grams, Saurornithoides boasted a brain mass of one hundred grams. ^{[citation needed]} Had they had another 10 million or 20 million years to evolve, scientists argue, they very well could have become the first intelligent creatures on Earth ^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] References

• Fantastic Facts About Dinosaurs (ISBN 0-7525-3166-2)
• Is Anyone Out There (ISBN 0-385-30532)