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Deinonychus
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Deinonychus was about 11 feet (3.4 meters) long and weighed about 160 pounds (70 kilograms). Deinonychus was a predator, and probably hunted in packs. Its most formidable weapon was the curved claws on its hind feet - and it is from these claws that it gets its name, which means "terrible claw". Movie goers will remember that one of the main villains of the Jurassic Park  movies
are Velociraptors.
In the films, Velociraptor
is being depicted as being about as large a human, and
fossils of the animal
are shown being found in Montana
- in reality, Velociraptor
was actually quite a lot smaller than a human and was only found in Asia,
so what the film-makers appear to have done is "beef up"
Velociraptor
by adding some characteristics of Deinonychus (which did live in North America and was larger than
Velociraptor).
While we can't be sure that is explanation is correct, it does make sense
because in the Jurassic Park novel,
a character states that
Deinonychus is considered to be one of the
Velociraptors
(in reality, Deinonychus is closely related to
Velociraptors, but is still
considered to be a separate Genus).
Like Velociraptors, Deinonychus is now believed to have been covered in feathers, and had a warm-blooded bird-like metabolism. However, although often thought of as a fast-runner, the bones of the leg tend to such Deinonychus may not have been one. Deinonychus Timeline:Deinonychus was a carnivore (meat-eater) that lived about 115 million years ago
Related Information & ResourcesSee Also
Deinonychus Facts
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