Prehistoric Wild: Life in the Mesozoic

Duck and Run (70 MYA)

Nemegt Formation, Mongolia, 70 Million Years Ago

The light of the morning sun shines and dances across the waters of an expansive river delta. An image of the blue, partly cloudy sky is perfectly reflected across the freshwater surface. Parts of the stream spread across the vast, forested wetland, resembling branches on a tree. The mirror-esque water is mixed in with several lily pads and batches of quarter-inch long, flat, oval leaves called duckweed.

These structures are more concentrated at the edges of the muddy, flora-covered patches of land scattered across the river. Palm trees and coniferous araucarias sprout from these freshwater islands of varying sizes. The soft, brown ground on these bits of dry land is also decorated with many other types of plants such as silvergrass, reeds, and other aquatic weeds. A few standouts include typha which looks like tall grass with corn dogs on them, as well as small, brown manyspike flatsedge. Such a variety of vegetation attracts a host of many herbivorous creatures.

Wading across the waters of the delta are large flocks of Gallimimus, tall members of the ostrich-esque ornithomimid family. Their long necks support a small head with large, side-facing eyes, and a toothless, keratinous beak. These necks combined with their long tails create a total length of up to 20 feet. Their thin, bald legs make them as tall as the average human at the hip. Three fingers grow from their small hands, adorned curved claws. Much of their bodies except their necks and legs are covered in a coat of light brown, black spotted feathers. The exposed skin of these "chicken mimics" is covered in scales that are white as salt. They primarily focus their diet on the water and duckweed but aren't afraid to gobble up the occasional seed shrimp.

One species here has a diet entirely focused on vegetation. At the shores along the river are herds of crested Saurolophus. They are a widespread type of duck-billed hadrosaur that also reside in Canada but are more common here in Mongolia. At up to 40 feet long, 12 feet tall, and weighing as much as two elephants, they also grow larger here. Their robust bodies have grayish-green, scaly skin with salt-white underbellies and vertical stripes of the same color across their bump-covered backs. While their two back legs have three toes fused in a fleshy bed, the feet of their front legs are instead single, hoof-like nails. By far their most distinguishing feature is their black, spike-like cranial crests which extend up and back from their head at a 45-degree angle from above their eyes. These crests appear smaller in the handful of 14-foot juveniles who also have proportionately larger eyes. The most useful feature of these animals is their mouths which sport keratinous, toothless beaks similar to that of a duck. These beaks are perfect for stripping and biting vegetation, which is then ground up by the batteries of teeth hidden in their cheeks. Such capabilities make them perfectly built for a life of grazing on ferns and other ground vegetation. Occasionally, some of the adults would rear up on their hind legs to reach the branches of the trees around them. However, they are not quite as well suited for tree browsing as one of the wetland's other residents.

In rare spots near the trees, there is a single Therizinosaurus, a bizarre, 16-foot-tall dinosaur that stands on two legs. The five-ton body of this animal is broad with a pot belly and a short tail. Its small, beaked head is held up by a long neck which adds to its 33-foot length. Brown, shaggy feathers cover much of this animal except its legs and underbelly which expose its dark gray, scaly skin. By far its most frightening feature is its 3-foot long, sharp claws attached to its three-fingered hands on its robust arms. While they make for an intimidating threat display, they instead have a different use. Similarly to a modern-day sloth, the Therizinosaurus uses its claws to pull higher vegetation closer to its mouth for feeding. It is a rather peculiar diet given it belongs to the theropod family of dinosaurs that are normally carnivorous.

The true oddities of this land reside on a small patch of mud at the edge of one of the larger, freshwater islands. Here resides a batch of four baby Deinocheirus, feathered creatures with proportionately long, clawed arms, a beaked head like a duck, and a hump like a camel. Since these are only chicks, they are only half the size of an average chicken and sport different colored, downy feathers with black streaks. One female, Hazel, has base feathers that are a brownish-greenish shade while those of her smallest brother, Gray, are a shade between black and white. Both her biggest brother, Lumpy, and her only sister, Dot, share a yellowish-beige coat while the latter has much more abundant spots.