Anzu
Name: Anzu
(named after mythical creature that appears in Sumerian and Akkadian
mythology).
Phonetic: An-zoo.
Named By: M. C. Lamanna, H. D. Sues, E.
R. Schachner & T. R. Lyson - 2014.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Theropoda, Oviraptorosauria, Caenagnathidae, Caenagnathinae.
Species: A. wyliei (type).
Diet: Possible omnivore, but uncertain.
Size: Up to 1.5 meters high at the hips.
Known locations: USA, Montana, North Dakota and
South Dakota (all Hell Creek Formation).
Time period: Late Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull and post cranial
remains.
The
scattered fossils of Anzu were first being found as
far back as
1998, and in time four individual discoveries were pieced together
to form one oviraptorid. Anzu now has a enough
fossils to reveal the
skull as well as around seventy-five/eighty per cent of the total post
cranial skeleton. This has now revealed Anzu to
have been an
oviraptorid
that measured at least one and a half meters high at the
hips, making it the largest known oviraptorid on the North American
continent.
Anzu
is known to have had a fairly large rounded crest on top of its skull,
a feature that was likely for display purposes. one of the most
interesting things about Anzu is that the remains
were found
scattered across a flood plain, indicating that Anzu
may have lived
in a lowland flood plain environment. This is substantially different
to what we currently know about the Asian oviraptorids which are known
only from semi-arid environments.
Because
the holotype remains were recovered from the Hell Creek Formation,
Anzu was popularly dubbed the ‘chicken from
hell’ in popular
media. However that name chicken from hell did not translate well
into Ancient Greek or Latin (the two most commonly used ancient
languages when naming animals), and so the decision was made to
name it Anzu.
Sometimes
known as Imdugud, Anzu was a creature in the mythologies of ancient
Sumeria and Akkadia that could be depicted as either a great bird or a
griffin-like creature. Anzu was a servant to the sky god Enlil,
though when Anzu desired to learn about the future of all things he
stole the tablets of destiny. Anzu was subsequently killed when the
tablets were retrieved, but by whom depends upon the version of the
stories, with credits for the deed going to Lugalbanda, Ninurta and
Marduk at different times.
Further reading
- A New Large-Bodied Oviraptorosaurian Theropod Dinosaur from the
Latest Cretaceous of Western North America. - PLoS ONE 9
(3): e92022. - M. C. Lamanna, H. D. Sues, E. R.
Schachner & T. R. Lyson - 2014.
- Constraining the body mass range of Anzu wyliei using volumetric and
extant-scaling methods. - Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology.
9 (1). - Kyle Atkins-Weltman, Eric Snively, Patrick O'Connor - 2021.
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