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Gallimimus was a theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia about 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous. The genus is part of the ostrich dinosaur group of feather-bearing, fast runners. Its head was small and light with large eyes and a bulbous structure at the base of the skull. The snout was longer, broader and more rounded than in similar species. Its horny beak was toothless with a delicate lower jaw. The neck and legs were long, and the weak forelimbs had short three-fingered hands. Several of its fossils were discovered in the Gobi Desert in the 1960s. Gallimimus means "chicken mimic", from the shape of its neck vertebrae. It may have had good vision and intelligence comparable to ratite birds, living in groups as an omnivore, a filter-feeder or a herbivore. Gallimimus was featured in the film Jurassic Park in a scene that included innovative special effects and shaped the popular view of these dinosaurs as bird-like animals. (Full article...)