Garudimimus brevipes. Original artwork from Feathered Dinosaurs.

2006.
Watercolour and gouache on Arches paper 410 x 630 mm, unframed, signed and dated by artist.

The Garuda mimic with a short tail.

This dinosaur was named after Garuda, the Indian monkey god who flew with bird-like wings. It was discovered from a single skeleton in southern Mongolia. An earlier study of it suggested it had a small horn on its snout but this has since been proven incorrect. The foot structure is less specialised than many other ornithomimosaurs as is the nature of its first hand digit. Garudimimus grew to about three metres in length. It was completely toothless and probably fed on an omnivorous diet of small animals, seeds and other plant materials.

Artist's note: Garudimimus was the first of the toothless ornithomimosaurs. This illustration shows the development of the pincer-like beak at the front of the skull together with a tomium-like edge to the upper and lower jaws. The tomium in the beak of birds provides a scissor-like action for processing food -a function previously performed by teeth. Note the large eye, ever alert for predators.

Superfamily: Ornithomimosauroidea
Family: Ornithomimidae
Age: Late Cretaceous
Locality: Bayanshiree Svita, southern Mongolia.