China seems to be the place to go to find some rather unique and interesting dinosaurs. Sinornithoides actually means “Chinese bird form” and this Cretaceous period dinosaur lived up to its name (or is it died up to?).  With feathers, a long tail and short teeth this turkey sized dinosaur was a fast runner and clever to boot.

We have just one video for this Chinese marvel… I’m a Dinosaur.

I actually have a rather limited number of links for our feathered omnivore (yes, Emanuel was over the moon that we found another omnivore, though some of our resources say carnivore only). Planet Dinosaur has our dinosaur up with the picture we used as a colouring page HERE. Dinosaurs.about.com has an informative page HERE. I found it interesting that an almost complete fossil was found and it was ALSO in a bird like position… though that COULD be just a result of fossilization of course. EnchantedLearning has a fact sheet HERE. Red Orbit has a short blurb HERE. Dino Wikia also has their information HERE. Palaeocritti has a great image of the skeleton of the Sinornithoides HERE. And of course Wiki has its article HERE. It is hard  to believe that something that could be so dangerous (granted only to small creatures) was so tiny! So perfect! 

Joined by Zander who may just be along for the ride long term on our personal Dinosaur Adventure!

Time for our 4th Chinese dinosaur… the Microraptor. This carnivore was rather unique with its 4 winged limbs and its claws made especially for climbing. Not only was this dinosaur at home in the trees but it FLEW! With its full out feathers many have questioned if it is the link to birds! An early Cretaceous period dinosaur it was a predator in the air but in great danger on the ground.

Our video is from the series Planet Dinosaur.

Of course there are some links to share. Emanuel was rather enamored with the feathered back legs… there is a great image of that HERE. Dinosaurs.about.com shared their knowledge HERE. Dinosaur Facts has… well facts about our dinosaur HERE. The Natural History Museum has some points of interest HERE. National Geographic has an interesting 3D model on their site as well as an article HERE. Wiki has their informative article HERE. Discover – the Magazine of Science, Technology and the Future has a rather in depth article HERE. This article covers the colour and sheen of the feathers… we did not cover this as it was over Emanuel’s head but the bit I skimmed seemed very interesting! You can find our colouring page HERE.

Microraptor

Gotta continue that Chinese dinosaur trend for our special 4 day stint… here is #3 – the Dilong dinosaur. Another for our Dinosaur app, as I mentioned previously, I found ALL our Chinese dinosaurs on this app first. Some of these are definitely a little more obscure than previous ones so the information is a little more scarce. However, we DID find a video! Embedding it has been disabled by the host on youTube but you can find it HERE.

The Dilong was found in the early Cretaceous period in China. It was a smaller carnivore and is considered to be a type of tyrannosaur, though centuries prior to the T Rex. Even more amazing, there is evidence that this dinosaur had feathers! The American Museum of Natural History has an article regarding this find HERE. It’s name means Emperor Dragon. Amazingly enough it is a fairly recent find with it first being discovered in 2004!

Dinosaurs.about.com had a fact page HERE about the Dilong. Prehistoric Wildlife has a lengthy article HERE. Cool Dino Facts Wikia has a rather interesting artist’s rendition of our dinosaur HERE. Of course there is a lengthy and thorough piece on Wiki HERE. Our colouring page is actually off of an artist’s series on deviantArt HERE. EWilloughby did a terrific job of giving us a whole scene that Emanuel really enjoyed colouring! Good luck and if you come across more resources for this rather interesting dinosaur please send them my way!

Emanuel is pointing at the Dilong