Description
Segnosaurus is a genus of therizinosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia and China during the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 102–86 million years ago.
Segnosaurus was a large-bodied therizinosaur with an estimated length of approximately 6–7 meters and a weight of about 1.3 tonnes. It was bipedal, with its trunk inclined upward, a small head with a beak at the tip of the jaws, and a long and slender neck. The lower jaw was turned downward at the front, and the teeth were distinguished by having additional denticles, as well as a third cutting edge on some of the back teeth. The anterior limbs were robust and had three digits bearing very large claws, and the legs had four toes supporting each foot – all theropods, apart from therizinosaurs, had three-toed feet.
Segnosaurus and his relatives as well Therizinosaurus were slow-moving animals that, as their unusual characteristics indicate, were mainly herbivores, occasionally omnivores, while the majority of the other groups of theropods were carnivores. Segnosaurs probably used their long forelimbs, long necks, and beaks to feed on the vegetation in the trees.
Dinosaur eggs containing embryos, assigned to the egg type Dendroolithus from the Nanchao Formation in China were identified as belonging to therizinosaurs and described by Martin Kundrát and his colleagues in 2007. The development of the embryos and the fact that no adults were found associated with the nests indicate that the therizinosaur hatchlings were precocial (capable of locomotion at birth) and could leave their nests to feed themselves independently of their parents.
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