| Dromaeosaurus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Name | Dromaeosaurus | |||
| Order | Saurischia | |||
| Suborder | Theropoda | |||
| Class | Dromaeosauridae | |||
| Name Translation | Running lizard | |||
| Period | Late Cretaceous (80-65 million years ago) | |||
| Location | North America | |||
| Diet | Meat | |||
| Size | 1'8-2 metres (6'2-6.5 ft), 15kg | |||
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 65.5 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. It also appeared in the BBC documentary Walking With Dinosaurs, where one tried to kill a Tyrannosaurus' young, but gets eaten. A pack of them also attack a herd of Torosaurus later on, and is also seen ambushing a pair of ornithopods.