Gigantoraptor: The giant feathered dinosaur from China

Gigantoraptor is a dinosaur that surprises and delights in equal measure. It comes from China, belongs to a group called the oviraptorosaurs, and is a true giant among them. It probably wore feathers and had large round eyes — an engaging and unusual "visitor".

Its body

Gigantoraptor was large: roughly 8 metres long and possibly close to 1400 kilograms — several times bigger than an adult human. It was a theropod, a relatively early-branching member of the group most closely related to birds. Its long legs meant it probably walked quickly and steadily, somewhat like an ostrich.

Its head is especially interesting. It may have had a crest, and its eyes were large. Its body was very likely covered in feathers or feather-like structures for warmth and protection. Such features do not fossilise easily, so the large eyes, the crest, the colours and the feathering in the model are evidence-informed artistic guesses, not things the fossils have directly confirmed.

Where it lived and what it ate

Diet is the most uncertain part of Gigantoraptor's story. Its original fossil comes from the Iren Dabasu Formation in Inner Mongolia, China, and the research paper estimated its length and weight — but the fossil evidence is not yet enough to say clearly whether it was a plant-eater, a meat-eater, or both. It lived in the Late Cretaceous and was probably an active, fast-running animal.

Where its fossils were found

Gigantoraptor's fossils were found in Inner Mongolia, China. The discovery was an important event in dinosaur research, because it overturned the idea that oviraptorosaurs were generally small.

What the fossils tell us — and what they do not

Fossils give us the approximate size and body proportions of the skeleton, but the colour of the feathers, the shape of the crest, its diet and exactly how it lived are still partly guesswork. So it is more accurate to treat the colours here as a way to help us imagine the animal rather than as confirmed fact.

A note for grown-ups

You could talk with a child about the idea of uncertainty: "Scientists haven't even decided what it ate — isn't that amazing?" Showing a child that science is full of open questions is a wonderful gift, because those are the questions waiting for the next generation to answer.