Utahraptor Characteristics

Utahraptor measured 23 feet (7 metres) in length, 6 feet (1.7 metres) in height and weighed around 1 ton. Like other dromaeosaurids, Utahraptor had a huge, powerful, curved claw on the second toe that could grow to almost 9 inches (23 centimetres) long. Utahraptor relied more on its hooked, slashing claw to maim its prey rather than using it jaws and teeth like a typical carnivorous predator. Its toe joints were specially enlarged so that its massive claw could be raised upward and backward to avoid damage while running. However, when used in an attack, its claw flexed forward as the dinosaur kicked out.

Utahraptor had large eyes, indicating good eyesight, and grasping hands. It had a long, stiff tail which was used to counter-balance and to help when changing direction when running. It was a lightly built, fast-moving, agile, bipedal (walked on 2 legs), bird-like dinosaur. It had a curved, flexible neck and a big head and sharp, serrated teeth set in its powerful jaws. Utahraptor had hollow bones.

Utahraptor was a fierce carnivore and would have been a formidable predator. It probably ate just about anything it could slash and tear apart. The discovery of a number of skeletons of the closely related dromaeosaur, Deinonychus, around the skeleton of a large plant eater suggests that dromaeosaurs may well have hunted in packs. It is believed by many scientists that Utahraptor was a warm-blooded dinosaur. Fossil evidence shows that the inside of Utahraptors bones was more like a modern day Mammal, then like that of a cold-blooded animal. This would have given Utahraptor a huge advantage over its prey. Large, slow-moving herbivores would have not stood much of a chance once these ferocious carnivores began their attack.

Utahraptor intelligence (as measured by its relative brain to body weight, or EQ) was the highest among the dinosaurs.

Fossils of Utahraptor were found in the Cedar Mountain Formation of central Utah, USA. Utahraptor is known from a well preserved skeleton found in 1991 in Utah and fragmentary remains including sharp hand and foot claws from South America.

Utahraptor was named by paleontologists James Ian Kirkland, Robert Gaston and Donald Burge in 1993. The type species is U. ostrommaysi.