Troodon

TROO-oh-don

Photo by Josh Hofer on Flickr

Learn Before You Go

Scientific Name: Troodon
Pronunciation: TROO-oh-don
Name Means: Wounding tooth
Diet: Carnivore
Fossils Found: Montana, Wyoming, and Alberta, Canada
Wikipedia: Troodon

Dinosaurs Had Feathers?

Conclusive evidence proving whether it possessed feathers or not has yet to be found, but Troodon was descended from feathered dinosaurs so we decided to portray our dinosaur model with feathers.

We thought it might be new information to some of our visitors that dinosaurs had feathers at all. It also opened up an opportunity for us to talk about the fact that many paleontologists believe birds evolved from dinosaurs. Although it is not thought that birds evolved from this particular dinosaur species.

Fossilized remains of a Troodon nest. The tops of the half-buried eggs were exposed within the nest and were presumably incubated by the attending male.

Mr. Mom

Fossil evidence shows that Troodon and several other theropods frequently laid relatively large clutches of eggs, similar to those of a number of modern bird species like emus. In birds, the dads are often the ones to provide the parental care over the eggs. Studies of the bones found with the nests of Troodon suggests it was the males caring for those eggs too.