Deinonychus antirrhopus die-NON-ih-kuss
"Terrible claw"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Deinonychus 3.4 m (11.2 ft) long
2 people holding hands
- Length
- 3.4 m (11.2 ft) — About 3.4 m long, ~75 kg — wolf-sized.
- Period
- Early Cretaceous (115–108 Mya)
- Place
- North America · Montana · Wyoming · Oklahoma
- Food
- Carnivore — Medium-sized prey, including Tenontosaurus, an ornithopod 5–6 times its weight.
Deinonychus is the dinosaur that changed everything. When John Ostrom dug up its skeleton in 1964, the long arms and sickle claw made him realize dinosaurs were warm-blooded, active animals — not slow swamp reptiles. He even predicted feathers on these animals, decades before they were found. The ‘raptors’ from Jurassic Park are really Deinonychus with the name borrowed from Velociraptor.
What we know
- Discovered in 1964 by John Ostrom — the find that triggered the 'Dinosaur Renaissance'.
- Sickle claw on the second toe, much larger than Velociraptor's.
- Long stiff tail used as a counterweight for balance during fast turns.
- Found near Tenontosaurus skeletons with shed teeth nearby — evidence it ate or scavenged them.
What we guess
- Whether Deinonychus hunted in packs. Multiple skeletons near one Tenontosaurus suggest yes, but they could have been competing scavengers.
- How the feathers looked — likely large wings on the arms even though it couldn't fly.
- Whether sickle claws were used for slashing, climbing, or pinning prey.