Deinonychus antirrhopus

 
Deinonychus antirrhopus (Ostrom, 1969)

Dinosauria
Theropoda
Tetanurae
Coelurosauria
Maniraptora
Paraves 
Dromaeosauridae (Raptors) 

Aptian to Albian (Early Cretaceous) 
Cloverly Formation, Antlers Formation 
Western United States 

Length: 3.5 m 

Deinonychus is the archetypal raptor and the actual animal that the Jurassic Park raptors are based upon. Its discovery marked the start of the Dinosaur Renaissance, when dinosaurs were first seen by scientific consensus as active, bird-like animals rather than sluggish, lizard-like animals. 

Sunday, May 19th, 2024