
CREATURE-PEDIA
Therizinosaurus




Therizinosaurus is a very large theropod dinosaurs. Therizinosaurus lived in the late Cretaceous Period (late Campanian-early Maastrichtian stages, around 70 million years ago), and was one of the last and largest representatives of its unique group, the therizinosaur. Over 12 meters long and 7 meters high, and weighing up to 9 tons, Therizinosaurus lived in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, Asia.The claws that Therizinosaurus possessed could be as long as 70 cm to 1.5 m. long and were the biggest known claws of any animal after the less-known Deinocheirus. The most distinctive feature of Therizinosaurus was the presence of gigantic claws on each of the three digits of their front limbs. These were common among therizinosaurs but especially large in Therizinosaurus, and while the largest claw specimens are incomplete, they probably reached just under 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length. The claws are the longest known from any animal. The claws were relatively straight, only gradually tapering into a point, and extremely narrow, transversely flattened. The feeding habits of Therizinosaurus are unknown since no skull material has ever been found that could indicate their diet. However, like other therizinosaurs, they were probably primarily herbivorous. At first, scientist thought its claws belonged to a meat-eating dinosaur, but it turns out Therizinosaurus, having a long neck and tiny head and those great claws at the front, had been a plant-eater, not a predator, and used their huge claws to drag leaves towards their mouths. These dinosaurs also lived in herds. They were the oddest of dinosaurs: great long necks for reaching up for vegetation and their huge pot bellies, those are great fermentation chambers for the tons of vegetation they had to eat. Paleontologists often compare Therizinosaurus to the living tree sloth which also have long claws, sloths tend to move very slowly and how they think Therizinosaurs moved as well.
Fun Facts
These giants move very slow, just like sloths.
Therizinosaurus used their long claws to defend themselves from predators and helps them grab branches to eat leaves.