Dino card No. 0972 of 2,027

Kizylkumavis

Say it: kiz-ill-koo-MAY-vis

Name means: “bird of the Kyzyl Kum desert”1

Ate: MeatEarly birdsLate Cretaceous

Kizylkumavis was a small, toothed bird that lived during the age of dinosaurs. It flew over the deserts of ancient Uzbekistan about 90 million years ago. This bird was an enantiornithine, a group of early birds that went extinct with the dinosaurs.1 2

Lived

94 to 90 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Bissekty Formation, Kyzyl Kum desert, Uzbekistan1 2

Food

Meat2

Length

0.1 to 0.3 m2

estimated from related enantiornithines

Top speed

about 28 km/h (17 mph)

Flying, estimate

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How big was Kizylkumavis compared to YOU?

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How fast was it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3 mph)

A kid on a bike about 22 km/h (14 mph)

Kizylkumavis about 28 km/h (17 mph)

A galloping horse about 65 km/h (40 mph)

A cheetah about 100 km/h (62 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Kizylkumavis lived during the Turonian stage of the Late Cretaceous, about 90 million years ago.1 2

It belonged to a group called Enantiornithes, which were the most common birds during the Cretaceous.1

Like many early birds, Kizylkumavis had teeth in its beak.1

Its fossils were found in the Bissekty Formation, which was once a river delta.1

The name Kizylkumavis means 'bird of the Kyzyl Kum', referring to the desert where it was discovered.1

AI-made picture of Kizylkumavis — An AI-made picture of how Kizylkumavis might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Kizylkumavis
Named by: Nessov 19843
Group: Early birds
Family / clade: Alexornithidae3
Classification: Theropoda > Avialae3
Age of the rocks: 94 to 90 million years (Turonian)3
Rock formations: Bissekty3
Countries: Uzbekistan3
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Kizylkumavis was named by Russian paleontologist Lev Nessov in 1984. The type specimen is a single bone cataloged as TsNIGR 51/11915.2 1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure about the exact size and appearance of Kizylkumavis because only a few bones have been found.2

Where the facts come from

Kizylkumavis (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Kizylkumavis in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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