Facts about Deinonychus Dinosaur

Deinonychus class of dinosaurs which inhabited this planet about 115 million years ago. It was one of the most deadly species of the Cretaceous period, which began 125 million years ago and lasted till 98 million years back. Its detailed classification is given as follows.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Infraorder: Deinonychosauria
Family: Dromaeosauridae
Subfamily: Velociraptorinae
Genus: Deinonychus
Species: Deinonychus antirrhopus

Characteristics of Deinonychus

The name Deinonychus literally translates to, 'terrible claw'. Fossils of this dinosaur were recovered from Montana, Oklahoma and Wyoming, Arkansas and Maryland in the USA. It was 5 feet in height and 9 feet in length and weighed around 80kgs. Although small in size, it was a brutal carnivore. You may have an idea about its shape from the movie, 'Jurassic Park', where Deinonychus was modeled after Dinonychids, a larger species of the 'raptor'. The remains suggest that they lived and hunted in groups. It derives its name from the unusually long talon on its hind foot. The claw is shaped like a sickle and was a unique feature of this dinosaur, and was used to tear open its prey. The curved and flexible neck and a big head gave it a huge advantage over its competitors in hunting. It had 60 dagger-like teeth and a group of Deinonychus could bring down a dinosaur much bigger than themselves. Tenotosaurus, a plant eating dinosaur was likely to be its most frequent victim as its skeletal remains were mostly accompanied with claws or teeth of Deinonychus.

It had pelvic bones of the shape similar to a lizard's and the bipedal nature suggests its close relation with bird ancestry, though it isn't a direct ancestor of birds. Velociraptor shown in the movie, 'Jurassic Park', is a close relative of Deinonychus. Deinonychus had a bird-like metabolism and just like a Velociraptor, it is believed to have been covered by feathers, although, its inclusion in warm-blooded animals is a matter of contention amongst scientists. The Dromaeosaur family, to which it belongs, had a characteristic light weight skull and elongated arms with sharp claws. They had an amazing sense of sight and the brain size (410 mm) was much larger for a dinosaur of that height and width.

The strength and agility of a Deinonychus, extremely good coordination of the body parts and an ability to leap great distances, imparted a huge advantage in its hunt. The bony parts called rods, along the sides of its tail, made the back portion of the tail stiff but still provided a little flexibility. But the part of the tail closer to the main body, was devoid of these rods to allow movement. This characteristic feature channeled amazing balance while running. Its moves can be compared to that of a flightless bird, running, swerving and balancing with astonishing speed. When it ran, it lifted its sickle-shaped claw upward and ran on the remaining toes. These features made it one of the most terrific predators of all time.

Until the fossils of Deinonychus were discovered, it was widely believed that dinosaurs were a bunch of slow and unintelligent creatures. The discovery of the fossil, of one of the deadliest and most clever dinosaurs is a valuable addition to our knowledge about dinosaurs.