Anzu (named for Anzû, a bird-like daemon in Ancient Mesopotamian religion) is a monospecific genus of caenagnathid dinosaur from North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana that lived during the Late Cretaceous (upper Maastrichtian stage, 67.2-66.0 Ma) in what is now the Hell Creek Formation.

[4][1][5] A third referred specimen, fragmentary skeleton MRF 319, studied by Tyler Lyson of the National Museum of Natural History, was discovered by Scott Haire, who spotted the bones at his uncle's ranch at Marmarth, North Dakota.

[6] The fourth referred specimen is a rear lower jaw fragment first reported in 1993, FMNH PR 2296 (formerly BHM 2033).

[6] Three researchers, Emma Schachner of the University of Utah, Matthew Lamanna of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Tyler Lyson of the Smithsonian in Washington realized in 2006 that they each had partial skeletons of the same species and began collaborating to study it, assisted by Hans-Dieter Sues, a paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

According to Sues, "for almost a hundred years, the presence of oviraptorosaurs in North America was only known from a few bits of skeleton, and the details of their appearance and biology remained a mystery.

Matthew Lamanna, who devised the species' name, originally wanted to use a Latin or Greek version of "chicken from hell".

[10] The specific name, wyliei, honors Wylie J. Tuttle, the grandson of one of the museum's donors, Lee B.

[1] Microvenator celer Gigantoraptor erlianensis Caenagnathasia martinsoni Alberta dentary morph 3 Leptorhynchos gaddisi "Caenagnathus" sternbergi Anzu wyliei Caenagnathus collinsi Oviraptoridae It had been expected that oviraptorosaurs would be found in North America, as well as the documented specimens in Asia, as the two continents had a land connection during the Cretaceous, but the discovery of Anzu wyliei indicates that North American oviraptorosaurs were related more closely to each other than to their counterparts in Asia.

[13] Its lifestyle, according to Stephen Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, was that of "a fast-running, ecological generalist that didn't quite fit the usual moulds of meat-eating or plant-eating dinosaur.

"[8] Its jaw morphology suggests that it could eat a variety of food items, including vegetation, small animals, and possibly eggs.

"[13] The fossils showed evidence of injuries, including a healed broken rib and an arthritic toe that was probably the result of a tendon being ripped away from the bone (an avulsion fracture).