UTAHRAPTOR

'''Utahraptor''' (meaning "Utah thief") is the largest known member of the theropod dinosaur family Dromaeosauridae, and dates from the upper Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous period (132-119 million years ago).
James Kirkland, Rob Gaston, and Don Burge discovered ''Utahraptor'' in 1993 in Grand County, Utah, within the Cedar Mountain Formation.^[1] The type specimen is currently housed at the College of Eastern Utah, although Brigham Young University currently houses the largest collection of ''Utahraptor'' fossils.
The type species (and only known species of ''Utahraptor''), ''Utahraptor ostrommaysorum'', was named for the American paleontologist John Ostrom, from Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, and Chris Mays, of Dinamation International.

Like other dromaeosaurids, ''Utahraptor'' had a huge curved claw on the second toe that could grow to 23 cm (almost 9 inches) long. The animal may have grasped its prey with its forelimbs while kicking with its hindlimbs. Recent tests on reconstructions of the smaller species ''Velociraptor'' suggest that claws of this type were used for stabbing or suffocating its prey, not slashing into their hide. Up to 6.5 meters (22 feet) long, 2 meters (over 6 feet) tall and 700 kg (1500lbs) in weight, ''Utahraptor'' would have been a formidable predator.
It is thought that ''Utahraptor'' may be closely related to the much smaller ''Dromaeosaurus'' and the giant Mongolian dromaeosaurid ''Achillobator''.

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In popular culture

References

External links

In popular culture

The novel ''Raptor Red'', by Bob Bakker, told the story of a pack of ''Utahraptor''. Another novel, "Raptor" by Paul Zindel, featured ''Utahraptor'', but with fictional characteristics including poison secreting from their claws. On television, ''Utahraptor'' was featured in the BBC series ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' and later made an appearance in "Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience". The webcomic ''Dinosaur Comics'' also features the image of a ''Utahraptor''.It appears in the game Primal Prey

References

1. Kirkland, J.I., Burge, D., and Gaston, R. (1993). "A large dromaeosaur [Theropoda] from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah." ''Hunteria'', '2'(10): 1-16.

External links

★ ''Utahraptor'' in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia at Dino Russ' Lair