Most Popular Dinosaur Models – Nothronychus in at Number 4
Nothronychus a Popular Dinosaur Model at Christmas
A model of the first therizinosaurid dinosaur to be found outside Asia, makes the Everything Dinosaur top five best selling prehistoric animal models in the lead up to Christmas 2008.
Nothronychus
Unlike other therizinosaur fossils, an almost complete skeleton of this particular dinosaur has been found. The fossils were discovered in New Mexico, Nothronychus, like the other therizinosaurs is a most bizarre-looking dinosaur. For instance, although it is related to other theropods, it seems to have adopted a plant-eating lifestyle.
We tend to regard these type of dinosaurs as animals that possess a range of peculiar features, a sort of dinosaur “designed by a committee”.
To read more about Nothronychus: Nothronychus – a dinosaur designed by a committee.
These type of prehistoric animals, also referred to as segnosaurs seemed to have found a successful niche in the Cretaceous eco-system as they diversified into a number of genera and lived in Asia as well as the United States.
A Illustration of Nothronychus
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Models
To view models of therizinosaurids and other strange dinosaurs: Dinosaur Toys and Dinosaur Models.
Estimated to have measured approximately 5 metres in length, and tipping the scales at over 1 Tonne, this peculiar dinosaur lived in what was the western USA approximately 90 million years ago. The dinosaur was named after its sloth-like claws (Nothronychus means sloth-like claw), as the scientists who named and described this dinosaur thought that it may have filled the niche that sloths have in today’s ecosystems.