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© Julius Csotonyi
Fossils discovered in China reveal the largest feathered animal yet known. Gigantoraptor was a very birdlike dinosaur, yet tall enough to look a Tyrannosaurus rex in the eye. Feathered but flightless, it strode the earth on long legs that likely made it a very fast runner. This illustration is courtesy of Julius T. Csotonyi. Find out more about this gigantic raptor at ScientificAmerican.com.
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BirdNote®
Gigantoraptor –
A Roadrunner for the Ages
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee songs, calls]
Imagine you’re out for a leisurely walk in the park. It’s an autumn morning; robins and Black-capped Chickadees skitter out of your way. [Person walking; American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee songs, calls in the background]
You turn a corner in the trail and—gasp!—just ahead, stands a feathered creature that stops you in your tracks! It stands 16 feet tall, measures 26 feet long, and has a beak as big as your head. [dinosaur roar]
Meet Gigantoraptor. All 3000 pounds of him . . . or her. [dinosaur roar]
Okay, your walk in the park would have to have taken place 85 million years ago. But such a creature really did exist. [Chinese music] Fossils recently discovered in China reveal the largest feathered animal yet known – a good three times larger than the previous extinct record-holder. Gigantoraptor was a very birdlike dinosaur, yet tall enough to look a Tyrannosaurus rex in the eye. It was feathered but flightless, and strode the earth on long legs that likely made it a very fast runner.
Imagine a roadrunner the size of a T. rex. This bird would have Wile E. Coyote running in the opposite direction. Or perhaps would have had him for lunch.
[dinosaur roar]
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Bird audio provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. American Robin alarm call recorded by R.S. Little. “Gigantoraptor” arranged by Cornell from audio of an African Elephant.
“Autumn Moon Over the Palace of Han” performed by Gao Zicheng. Guzheng Classics by Chinese Guzheng Masters. China Record Corporation: 1997.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org September 2013 Narrator: Frank Corrado
ID# gigantoraptor-01-2008-09-30-KPLU
Source: GrrlScientist/Living the Scientific Life website
