Gallimimus is another Jurassic Park celebrity. In the scene in which they are featured, a huge flock comes over a ridge, running away from a hungry T-rex that quickly takes some down. Gallimimus in the movie was inaccurate and would have had feathers. Gallimimus means ‘chicken mimic’, but it and its relatives would have been the ostriches and emus of the Cretaceous.
Gallimimus was from the Cretaceous period (not the Jurassic, just like 99% of the dinos in Jurassic Park) and belonged to the ornithomimosaurs, a family of ostrich like birds. These were closely related to the raptors, but lacked the claws and teeth that made them killing machines. However, they made up for it in speed. Ornithomimosaurs were the fastest dinosaurs, with Struthiomimus reaching top speeds of 45 mph.
These were probably omnivores or herbivores, since 99% were toothless and didn’t have big claws (except for one group, the deinocheirids). Most were native to North America and Central Asia, as most of the tyrannosaurs, raptors, and ceratopsians. Gallimimus was one of the last ornithomimosaurs, living around 70 mya in Mongolia.
Well, I said galloping, but Gallimimus wouldn’t have galloped; it didn’t have four legs. They would have sprinted like an ostrich does today. (Side note: if you see an ostrich running towards you, just climb a tree or throw rocks at its legs, preferably large, sharp ones) We also don’t know if the scene in Jurassic Park was possible, because there is not much evidence that Gallimimus lived in herds.
That’s it for today, we have one of the world’s fastest dinosaurs! Learn more about dinosaurs at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgXPx4KJjhfAIH82YMnqmZg
Anay Ganesh 