THE FLAMING CLIFFS

WHO LIVED HERE 80 MILLION YEARS AGO?

PROTOCERATOPS

Protoceratops was the first dinosaur discovered by western scientists Mongolia, at the Flaming Cliffs in 1922. With a beak like a bird but a body with four legs, it may have been found by ancient travellers and interpreted as the legendary griffin. Although its beak may look sharp like an eagle’s, it ate plants and was closer in size to a sheep than a lion.

Velociraptor

Velociraptor, the sharp-clawed predator who starred in the Jurassic Park films, was first discovered at the Flaming Cliffs in the Mongolian Gobi Desert. Scientists now know that it was feathered, and they believe it hunted Protoceratops–not people. It was two meters from head to tail and stood roughly knee high to an adult human.

Oviraptor

Oviraptor’s name means “egg stealer” because the first one ever found–at Mongolia’s Flaming Cliffs–was fossilized with a nest of eggs. We now know that the eggs were actually its own, and it was just being a good parent. Oviraptors came to the area to build their nests and hatch their young.

PINACOSAURUS

Weighing two tons and covered with spiky armor, Pinacosaurus was a formidable herbivore. The first one known to modern science was found at Mongolia’s Flaming Cliffs in 1923. This dinosaur may have used its bony tail club as a defensive weapon against predators.