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Mononykus ( muh-NON-i-kus, sometimes MON-o-NYE-kus) (meaning "one claw") was a theropod dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
 from late Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
 (80-70 million years ago) with long, skinny legs. It moved about on two legs, was very nimble, and could run at high speeds, something that would have been useful in the open desert
Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
 plains
Plains

Plains is the plural of plain a geographical feature.Plains or The Plains may also refer to:...
 where it lived. It had a small skull, and its teeth were small and pointed, suggesting that it ate insects and small animals, such as lizards and mammals.






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Mononykus ( muh-NON-i-kus, sometimes MON-o-NYE-kus) (meaning "one claw") was a theropod dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
 from late Cretaceous
Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide, is a geologic period from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period....
 Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
 (80-70 million years ago) with long, skinny legs. It moved about on two legs, was very nimble, and could run at high speeds, something that would have been useful in the open desert
Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
 plains
Plains

Plains is the plural of plain a geographical feature.Plains or The Plains may also refer to:...
 where it lived. It had a small skull, and its teeth were small and pointed, suggesting that it ate insects and small animals, such as lizards and mammals. Large eyes allowed Mononykus to hunt by night, when it was cooler and there would have been fewer predators (such as Velociraptor
Velociraptor

Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid Theropoda dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 mya during the later part of the Cretaceous Period ....
) about. It was a member of the family Alvarezsauridae
Alvarezsauridae

The Alvarezsauridae are an enigmatic family of small, long-legged running dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, a consensus of recent work suggests that they are primitive members of the Maniraptoriformes....
 and, like its relatives, had very strange, stubby forearms with one large claw three inches long (hence its name). The other two claws have disappeared (however, a close relative of Mononykus, Shuvuuia
Shuvuuia

Shuvuuia is a genus of bird-like theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of Mongolia. It is a member of the family Alvarezsauridae, small coelurosaurian dinosaurs which are characterized by short but powerful forelimbs specialized for digging....
, had two vestigial claws, alongside one large claw). The purpose of these highly specialized arms is still a mystery, but some scientists have suggested they were used to break open termite mounds (like modern anteaters), and therefore it is possible that they fed primarily on insects. Other characteristics include fused wrist
Wrist

In human anatomy, the wrist is the flexible and narrower connection between the forearm and the hand. The wrist is essentially a double row of small short bones, called carpals, intertwined to form a malleable hinge....
 bones similar to those of birds, a keeled breastbone, and a long tail resembling other dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s. Mononykus lived 75 million years ago, at the same time and place as Velociraptor
Velociraptor

Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid Theropoda dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 mya during the later part of the Cretaceous Period ....
. It was a small dinosaur, only 3 feet (1 m) long.

Mononykus is usually reconstructed with a covering of feathers. Indeed, in the fossil of its relative Shuvuuia feather traces were discovered, proving that Alvarezsauridae were among the theropod lineages with feathery or downy integument. A coat of downy feathers or fuzzy "protofeathers" also ties in nicely with the presumed lifestyle of Mononykus: they would have provided it with insulation during desert nights and the colder months, and could also have afforded camouflage. In addition, longer feathers as might have been borne on the tail, or colorful plumage, might have been put to use in the courtship of these sophisticated and intelligent dinosaurs.

While Mononykus was formally described in the 1990s, it was found that a specimen of the genus had already been unearthed by the Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews

Roy Chapman Andrews was an United States explorer, adventurer and Natural history who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History....
 expedition decades before. The specimen had been in the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world....
 collection, labeled simply as "bird-like dinosaur".

In popular culture

Mononykus appears in the BBC series Chased by Dinosaurs
Chased by Dinosaurs

This program features Nigel Marven as a time-traveller who encounters dinosaurs in the wild. The five-part series featured Nigel and his "team of fellow explorers" encountering prehistoric over a large range of time, and seeing creatures not featured in the original series....
 special "The Giant Claw", where one specimen is captured by Nigel Marven
Nigel Marven

Nigel Marven is a British wildlife presenter, television producer, author, and ornithologist....
 during his journey in Cretaceous Mongolia to solve the mystery of the giant claw.

External links



Bibliography

  • Haines, Tim and Paul Chambers. The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life. Pg. 125. Canada: Firefly Books Ltd., 2006.