Struthiomimus: Ostrich-like Dinosaur

Struthiomimus can be considered the ostrich of the dinosaur world. This tall, lightly built omnivore lived during the late Cretaceous Period in present-day Alberta, Canada. Fossils of this dinosaur were unearthed in Alberta covered in a layer of ash, suggesting that the animals were killed in a forest fire.

Struthiomimus was bipedal and was a member of the lizard-hipped family of dinosaurs, standing about four and a half feet tall at the hips. Unlike predacious therapods that lived around the same time, struthiomimus had longer legs with a long, slender neck and tiny head. The long legs were likely powerful and could have carried the dinosaur along at great speeds. This could have helped it chase down fast-moving prey like small mammals and reptiles but it was likely a primary defense measure. Struthiomimus was very slight in the way of a defensive arsenal and had no horns, sharp claws, thick hide, or armored tail. Therefore running would have been this dinosaur's strongest asset, especially from fast-moving therapods like deinonychus. Looking at the morphology of the leg bones of struthiomimus, it is estimated that the dinosaur could have sprinted between 30 and 50 miles per hour.

Struthiomimus' diet is up for debate among scientists. The skull did not contain teeth, but ended in a kind of beak, not unlike modern-day birds. Therefore it would have been difficult for this dinosaur to attack large prey. Also, given the size of the skull, it would not have possessed a very powerful bite needed to rend chunks of flesh out of other animals. It is likely therefore that struthiomimus was either omnivorous or herbivorous. It could have eaten local plantlife with the aid of gastroliths (stomach stones) or also preyed on small animals. The arms of struthiomimus were long and had long, bear-like claws at the end which could have been used for ripping up logs or scraping at the forest floor in order to get at insects or small amphibians. They also could have been used to scoop up eggs from the forest floor and carry them to a safe place in order to feed. Both of the proposed lifestyles (omnivore or herbivore) is legitimate given the structure of struthiomimus' skull. The eyes were very large compared to other dinosaurs which could have helped it locate hard to see prey on the ground or low in the canopy of forests. Also, even though the skull was quite small, it had a large brain cavity, thus giving struthiomimus a high brain-to-body ratio.