Tawa is one of the earliest theropods in the southern part of modern North America. Usually reaching a length of about 2 meters, it was very light and weighed only about 20 kg.

Tawa had to survive in the harsh conditions of a tropical desert close to the equator, which had an unstable climate with abundant seasonal precipitation, which was often replaced by fires depending on the time of year.

Tawa had a long thin neck, tail and hind legs. Its head was long and narrow, and its predatory jaws had many sharp teeth using which the fast theropod ripped prey. For the first time, a partial skeleton of this small dinosaur was discovered in 2004 at the Hayden Quarry of Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Full-scale excavations at the site of the find began in 2006. Upon completion, the researchers saw almost complete skeleton of Tawa. Scientists were lucky with the find: the remains were perfectly preserved and were not squeezed when fossilized by rocks.