Dinopedia
Register
Advertisement
Dromaeosaurus
Dromae
Scientific classification

Dromaeosaurus was a raptor that Dromaeosaurids are named after. It lived in North America in the Late Cretaceous, and it was thought to have incredible speed, so it was called "running lizard", though most experts nowadays conclude that dromaeosaurs were comparatively robust and likely short distance runners.

Description

Dromaeosaurus was a small carnivore, about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in length and 15 kg (33 lb) in weight. Its mouth was full of sharp teeth, and it had a sharp "sickle claw" on each foot. It lived during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, however, some fragmentary remains such as teeth which may belong to this genus have been found from the late Maastrichtian age Lance and Hell Creek Formations, dating to 66.038 million years ago. Dromaeosaurus had a relatively robust skull with a deep snout. Its teeth were rather large and it had only nine of them in the maxilla. In Dromaeosaurus albertensis, a vein at the back of the head, the vena capitis dorsalis, drains the front neck muscles through two long canals running to the posterior surface of the brain.

Popular culture

Dromaeosaurus appeared in Jurassic Fight Club, hunting an Edmontosaurus, after killing it a Tyrannosaurus showed up and took the Edmontosaurus leaving the tail (even though Dromaeosaurus went extinct before T. rex showed up). It lack feathers minus the quills on the top of ths skull, even though it would be covered head to toe in filamentous feathers and wings made from pennaceous feathers (although in many scenes Dromaeosaurus is shown having small wing and tail feathers, which it had in real life, but much larger.)

It also appeared in the BBC documentary Walking With Dinosaurs, where one tried to raid a Tyrannosaurus' nest, but is scared away. A pack of them also attack a herd of Torosaurus later on, and is also seen ambushing a pair of ornithopods. It lack feathers, even though it would be covered head to toe in filamentous feathers and wings made from pennaceous feathers. Like in Jurassic Fight Club, Dromaeosaurus died out before T. rex appeared (However, it could have represented either Acheroraptor or Dakotaraptor, which lived in the same place and same time as T. rex).

Another group appears in When Dinosaurs Roamed America, where the pack is seen being burned alive in a New Mexico forest by a forest fire while they are too busy eating a Zuniceratops carcass. It only has filamentous feathers, when it would have wings made from pennaceous feathers. Dromaeosaurus also appeared 20 million years earlier and didn't live in New Mexico (It could have been Saurornitholestes, although it may have represented a coelurosaur found in the area.)

It appears in the preschool show, Dino Dan. It only has filamentous feathers, when it would have wings made from pennaceous feathers, although the model in the show also had pennaceous feathers that formed a tail fan, which it may of had in life, and some pennaceous feathers on the elbows, which might have represented wings.

Advertisement