Among dromeosaurs, dinosaurs that moved bipedally and lived between 167 and 66 million years ago, surely the most famous are the fast and agile velociraptors, which first popularized the novel and then the Jurassic Park movies. Their appearance, however, was very different from that of the latter. These animals were actually covered in feathers and were not much larger than a turkey.
However, there were larger ‘raptors’, such as the Dakotaraptor steini , recently described by a team of researchers from different US institutions. In a study published in the journal Paleontological Contributions , of the Paleontological Institute of the University of Kansas, scientists point out that this predator was around 5 meters long and exceeded 2 meters high. Like other raptors, it possessed curved claws; and he used one of them, especially long and sharp and sickle-shaped , to stab his prey. According to these experts, coordinated by Robert A. DePalma, of the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History, in Florida, the Dakotaraptor measured about 19 centimeters.
In 2005, the remains of its larger claws, some limb bones, and several tail vertebrae were found in the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota. Now, the analysis of the fossils has made it possible to determine that their forelimbs were covered with feathers , to such an extent that they looked like real wings. DePalma and his collaborators point out that, although the Dakotaraptor could not fly with them, it surely used them to stabilize itself when it pounced on its victims.
Image: Emily Willoughby / KU Paleontological Institute
