

“We speculate an altercation with another Dineobellator or other predatory theropod resulted in these marks,” they write. While the final moments of Dineobellator are lost to time, the team found a gouge in one of the animal’s claws that appears to have been made around the time of its death – suggesting the beast may have met a sticky end. That, he added, means the dinosaur would have been able to whip its stiff tail around while pursing zig-zagging prey, meaning it was not only a nippy predator, but agile to boot. “The one major thing that is different about Dineobellator is that at the base of the tail, the vertebrae are set up differently so it makes the tail highly mobile at the base,” said Jasinski. “They are especially large, which would have given this animal a really strong grip and ability to grasp things with both its hands and feet,” said Jasinski.Īnd while many dromaeosaurids had stiff, reinforced tails that acted as a counterbalance, helping the animals run fast while low to the ground, the newly discovered beast had an extra feature: mobility. The animal’s claws also showed large projections on their bottom side, where muscles and tendons would have attached. “ would have allowed muscles of a similar size to be stronger and do more work more quickly in this animal.” “The upper arm bone has a very distinct angle in it, and basically what that means is that muscles attaching there would have been more efficient than other ,” said Dr Steven Jasinski, of the University of Pennsylvania and a co-author of the research. Researchers say the fossils show a number of unusual features. They are believed to be from a type of dromaeosaurid – a family of theropod dinosaurs that includes raptors – which appears to have been a close cousin of the velociraptor.ĭubbed Dineobellator notohesperus – a nod to the indigenous people of the region, the Navajo, the latin word for warrior and the south-western US location it was found in – the animal would have been about two metres in length, weighed about 18-22kg, and been covered in feathers. The remains, comprising about 20 bones, were found in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico, in rocks dating to about 67m years ago. Send us feedback.A meat-eating dinosaur with a feathered body, iron grip and a tail for agile pursuit of prey, has been discovered by fossil hunters, revealing that raptor dinosaurs were thriving right up to the point the asteroid struck, 66m years ago. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'raptor.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.

2021 Meet the center’s resident birds, schedule a virtual visit, or adopt a raptor from the center’s website. 2021 Also known as a carrion crow, the large raptor measures 22 to 29 inches in length with a wingspan of roughly five feet.Įlizabeth Gamillo, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Sep. 2021 Willamette Valley Vineyards in Turner has hosted a kestrel nest in one of its six raptor boxes for several years. 2021 During sweltering summer weather, the hands-on raptor program takes place inside, but winter sends birds and visitors alike into the milder warmth of the desert landscape. 2021 The commission did the same thing in 2009, after a poll of 77,000 school students resulted in a victory for the large raptor commonly seen building big nests or roosting on light poles near bodies of water.Ĭurt Anderson, ajc, 5 Nov.

2021 One of the raptor’s wings was injured, and the tip of his upper beak was broken off. 2021 This raptor dive-bombs at speeds up to 200 miles per hour, slamming into other birds in midair and sinking its talons into their flesh. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4 Dec. Recent Examples on the Web More information: Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station is a non-profit, mainly volunteer group dedicated to raptor research.
