Deinonychus

Classification

Genus: Deinonychus 

Type species: antirrhopus

Other species: None.

Suborder: Theropoda

Infraorder: Deinonychosauria

Family: Velociraptorinae

Dimensions

Length: 3m (10ft)

Height at hips: 1m (3 ft.)

Mass: 70 Kilos (140 lbs.)

Environment

Time: Early Cretaceous (120 to 98 MYA)

Place: Midwestern U.S.

Environment: 

Physical features and facts

Description: Deinonychus was a medium-sized pack hunting carnivore. It had three razor-sharp claws on its hand which it could use to slash its victims and a huge curved claw on its foot which it could use to hold onto prey. The eye sockets are angled forward, giving Deinonychus good depth perception. Its closest relatives, the Dromaeosaurs, are very birdlike and are the Dinosaurs most closely related to birds. Deinonychus almost certainly had feathers.

Lifestyle: Small meat-eating predator, similar to the smaller wildcats of today.

Feeding style: Probably a pack hunter. This would allow it to hunt animals larger than itself, like Tenontosaurus or Iguanodon.

Page information

Links: Wikipedia

The Natural History Museum's Dino Directory 

Picture credit: The Author, Dilong paradoxus (see http://dilong-paradoxus.deviantart.com/art/Deinonychus-0812-03-105369119)