One of the many species of dinosaur cloned by InGen is Gallimimus. They are quite interesting, to say the least. The name "Gallimimus" translates to "chicken mimic", which is admittedly an odd choice of name. They are much more like ostriches or other ratites in appearance and behavior, and not like a chicken at all. But "ostrich mimic" is already taken as a name (for Struthiomimus, which is closely related), and the laws of nomenclature or somesuch say that a certain name cannot be used twice. I fail to see why they couldn't have just named it "emu mimic" or something.
But anyway, the anatomy of Gallimimus was not altered too much by the cloning process. It lacks feathers, of course, but this is an absence shared by most of the dinosaurs. The tail might be a tad shorter than in fossil specimens, but I'm not sure. The size of the animal is otherwise unaltered - six meters long from head to tail, two meters high at the hip. The precise species probably corresponds to Gallimimus bullatus.
Probably the most obvious feature of Gallimimus is the flocking behavior. They will herd together in large groups at every opportunity. Again, they are reminiscent of ostriches in this respect. The footage of an ostrich group running across the salt flats of Africa is a familiar component of wildlife documentaries, and almost precisely the same image is represented here. Any rock or fallen log in the path of a running Gallimimus flock is hardly an obstacle; the animals will simply jump over them and continue on their way.
The diet of Gallimimus is somewhat surprising. They are members of the theropod group, which consists of carnivorous dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor, and it would likewise be logical to assume that Gallimimus was also a meat-eater. However, the ornithomimids were far more adapted to herbivorous habits, and this shows. Technically, Gallimimus is an omnivore; but plants such as ferns, shrubs, and flowers make up a far larger part of the diet than animal content, which consists mainly of insects. It is interesting to note that many paleontological researchers found the beak of Gallimimus to resemble a duck's, and so they hypothesized that the animal may have been a filter feeder. But during my observations I have seen that the beak is used mainly to strain through fields of long grass, which I presume picks up small insects and spiders. Of course, grass did not evolve for at least ten million years after the close of the Mesozoic Era, but I think it is reasonable to say that the same behaviors were performed on other tall and thin types of plants. Gallimimus also uses gastroliths in order to aid digestion; due to their lack of teeth this is not unusual.
Such a diet necessitates a fairly diverse habitat. Fossil evidence implies that there were plenty of water sources available in the time and place that these animals lived, and this does seem to be true in life. I was able to access a detailed map of the Isla Nublar facility, and the Gallimimus paddock is or was located near a sizeable river. That said, they also seem to require a good amount of open space, no doubt in order to stretch their legs and run around.
Being a relatively small and defenseless dinosaur, it is preyed upon by a number of carnivores. Tyrannosaurus in particular is fond of ambushing these creatures - exactly why, I'm not sure. But similar ornithomimids did exist in North America sixty-five million years ago. Gallimimus is an Asian species, but I can see that it would be a close analogue to the American types. They are truly fascinating animals, and amusing to watch.