Dromaeosaurus Characteristics

Both Dromaeosaurus and Deinonychus were small theropods with large skulls. Their skulls are similar, and both genera had large sicklelike claws on the second toe of the foot. Dromaeosaurus and Deinonychus are now placed in the same family, Dromaeosauridae. Other members of this family include Velociraptor and Hulsanpes. Dromaeosaurus was the original raptor who was a small, vicious hunter. Dromaeosaurus was a fast running, bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur that measured 6 feet (1.8 metres) in length and stood 1.5 feet (0.5 metres) tall at the hips. Dromaeosaurus weighed around 15 kilograms. Dromaeosaurus differs from most other Dromaeosauridae in having a short, massive skull, a deep mandible and large, sharp teeth. In these respects Dromaeosaurus resembled the Tyrannosaurs Rex.

A few bones are known from the hind limb and they indicate that Dromaeosaurus was a powerfully built animal, with powerful hind limbs, although it had hollow bones. Dromaeosaurus would have been able to leap from place to place to keep itself out of danger. The hind feet contained two normal digits and one large sickle-like claw that gave it a distinct advantage over most of its prey. The presence of feathers in closely related dinosaurs makes it extremely likely that Dromaeosaurus was feathered as well.

Dromaeosaurus had remarkably large eyes and excellent vision. It also probably had a good sense of smell and hearing. Its neck was curved flexible and its jaws were solidly built. The tail was flexible at the base but sheathed in a lattice of bony rods which allowed it to be carried in a sharply upturned position.

Dromaeosaurus is known from a partial skull and other bones (foot fragments, ribs), collected in what is now Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. Dozens of isolated teeth have also been found from the Maastrichtian age Hell Creek Formation, dating to 72 million years ago.

When first discovered, Dromaeosaurus was hard to classify. It had such large foot bones that it was thought to be a much larger dinosaur. Dromaeosaurus had a large brain for its size, large eyes and grasping hands. Because of this, scientists thought that it was more than twice its actual size. It was not until almost 50 years after the discovery of the type specimen that it was formally classified into its own family.

In 1914, Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History collected a nine-inch-long skull and some foot bones from the Judith River Formation in Alberta.

Exactly how it lived and what it ate are still open to speculation. The teeth show moderate wear and chipping and seem to have been used for crushing and tearing, more than slicing through flesh, it is possible that Dromaeosaurus was more of a scavenger than other small theropods. Dromaeosaurus was probably better suited to tackling large prey than the more lightly built Saurornitholestes.

Dromaeosaurus was named by Matthews and Brown in 1922.