A Thanksgiving Therizinosaur

I have to admit that I'm not enamored with many feathered theropods. While I recognize that dinosaur feathers underlines their connection to birds and so makes dinosaurs as a whole more relevant, these animals lose a bit of their mystique when you learn that they're not as alien as you might imagine.

There's an exception to every rule, however, and I can't help but be amazing by therizinosaurs. Known for decades only from a giant set of hands (belong to the type genus Therizinosaurus), these enigmas turned out to be the dinosaur precursor to the giant ground sloths -- herbivores that stood tall as they fed from the trees, pulling down the higher branches with an impressive set of claws.

Nothronychus is one of the earliest and mostly completely known therizinosaurs, as well as the first identified from North America. It has all the qualities that make these theropods so alien -- the giant claws, the long neck, the fat turkey body...In fact, the only thing remotely familiar about this dinosaur is the furcula, or wishbone, betraying its link, however distant, to modern dinosaurs.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!