Ferocity of Bird-Like Dinosaurs Put in Doubt

Bird-like dinosaurs that roamed the Earth 70 million years ago may not have been as ferocious as scientists had thought, experts reported in the Aug. 30 issue of Nature. Fossils of two species of dinosaurs found in Canada and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia show that the ancient creatures did not use their beaks to prey on animals but to sieve food from water and marshes, much the way modern-day ducks and flamingos feed.

The newly discovered fossils belong to a group of ostrich-like dinosaurs called ornithomimids, which were about 15 feet long and 7 feet tall.

They were among the fastest-running dinosaurs. Previous fossils had not revealed the comb-like soft-tissue structures of the creatures’ beaks. Knowing what the beaks looked like reveals how the creatures ate.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II