Deinonychus antirrhopus

Deinonychus antirrhopus (terrible claw)

Kingdom- Animalia
Phylum- Chordata
Order- Saurischia
Suborder- Theropoda
Clade- Eudramaeosauria
Family- Dromauosaurida
Subfamily- Velociraptorinae
Genus- Deinonychu

Diet: Meat

Length: 11.5 feet

Weight: 160 pounds

Time of Habitation: Early Cretaceous period 115-106 million years ago

Place of Habitation: United States


The first Deinonychus fossils were found in southern Montana near the town of Billings during 1931 by a team led by paleontologist Barnum Brown. Brown's main focus was excavating and preparing Tenontosaurus remains. However when he made his field report to the American Museum of Natural History he told of the discovery of a small cornivorous dinosaur skeleton near that of a Tenontosaurus.. Brown named his find "Dapatosaurus agilis" and prepared to describe it and have it put on display but he never completed his work. Deinonychus was later given it's name by Ostrum and Grant E. Meyer. By 1969 a number of bones were available but important ones were still missing such as the femurs, sacrum, sternum and several vertebrate.

Because of Ostrum's  research on the Deinonychus the debate about whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded or cold-blooded was ignited. Ostrom found similarities bettween the forefeet and hips of Deinonychus and those of modern day birds which caused him to revise his hypothesis that dinosaurs evolved into birds which is now a widely excepted theory. Because of the bird like anatomy Deinonychus is thought to have had feathers.

There is geological evidence that suggest that Deinonychus inhabited areas consisting of either floodplains or swamp like environments similar to today's Louisiana. Teeth of Deinonychus are a common find with Tenontosaurus skeletons.There is a Tenontosaurus humerus that has what might be Deinonychus bite marks on it! However a single Deinonychus could not kill a full grown Tenontosaurus which suggest pack hunting. Studies of modern archosaurs (birds and crocodiles point towards uncoordinated behavior within Deinonychus groups possibly even cannibalism at kill sites. On the other hand, a study of track sites point more towards coordinated pack activity.

Like Velociraptor ( a relative of Deinonychus) Deinonychus has large sickle-shaped claw that it could use during predatory behavior. The size and curvature of the claw differs from specimen to specimen. the younger specimens having a more curved claw than adults. There is speculation that this claw could be more curved in younger specimens to be more effective as a climbing utensil rather than being used for dealing lethal prey and as they got older it straightened for hunting. I hope you enjoyed reading about Deinonychus.



Sources:
wikipidia