Dinosaur
Ornitholestes
A hand once assigned to this animal is now considered to belong to Tanycolagreus.
The reconstruction of Ornitholestes depends on a partial specimen whose skull was badly crushed.
Three stages. One companion.
Game artwork
AI-generated, stylized game illustrations. These designs and growth stages are imaginative, not scientific reconstructions.
Ornitholestes at a glance
- Diet
- Carnivore
- It is interpreted as a consumer of other animals. Hunting and scavenging are not mutually exclusive behaviors.
- When it lived
- Jurassic
- Group
- Coelurosauria
- Coelurosaurs
- Fossil locations
- Wyoming
- Places where fossils have been found
Beyond the game
The real Ornitholestes
It is known from a single partial skeleton with a very crushed skull. It was found in Wyoming in 1900 and described three years later, which limits some details of its reconstruction.
A hand first assigned to this animal is now considered to belong to Tanycolagreus. The case shows why researchers need to check that bones belong together before completing a reconstruction.
This grouping describes evolutionary relationships. Its members share ancestors; they do not form a chain in which one must turn into another.
Fossil discoveries
Selected fossil records · present-day map
Map references
Map: Natural Earth, public domain. Fossil records: linked collections and publications.A note on the science
A hand first assigned to this animal is now considered to belong to Tanycolagreus. The case shows why researchers need to check that bones belong together before completing a reconstruction.
Sources & text credits
Explore the references behind this profile.
- Ornitholestes hermanni
Wikipedia contributors · Spanish source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Ornitholestes
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Coelurosauria
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Living birds
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
Educational text adapted in English from the existing Wikipedia-backed Dinosgacha catalogue and linked articles by Wikipedia contributors.
Existing English translations have been selected and arranged for this encyclopedia. Repeated period and diet text is omitted where those fields already carry it. Unknown facts remain unfilled; unreviewed geological age phrases are omitted and period labels replace numerical ages.
The adapted educational text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. This text license does not apply to the game illustrations.