Gallimimus bullatus

Gallimimus bullatus. Artist: Kate Nolan. Source: Museum Victoria.

Gallimimus was the largest of a group of dinosaurs known as ornithomimosaurs, 'the bird mimicking lizards', which were toothless, had bird-like skulls, and an appearance similar to that of large running birds. Gallimimus was probably omnivorous, although palaeontologists cannot agree on what exactly its diet may have been, as the animal was totally without teeth. Seeds, fruits, small vertebrates, large insects, and even the eggs of other dinosaurs have been suggested for its diet.

Distinctive features of Gallimimus include long claws on its forelimbs, which were probably used for raking or digging light material from the ground, rather than carrying food to its mouth. It had long, striding hind limbs, and as it walked, its tail probably swung free of the ground, aiding its balance. This suggests that it was capable of running quite fast.

Gallimimus came from the same fossil deposits in Mongolia as Tarbosaurus, and lived alongside it during the late Cretaceous Period. The cast on display at Melbourne Museum is from a near complete skeleton found in the Gobi Desert by a joint Polish-Mongolian expedition in 1968.