Utahraptor
| Utahraptor Temporal range: Early Cretaceous |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| (unranked): | Coelurosauria |
| Family: | Dromaeosauridae |
| Genus: | Utahraptor Kirkland, Gaston & Burge, 1993 |
| Species | |
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U. ostrommaysorum (Kirkland, Gaston & Burge, 1993) (type) |
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Utahraptor was a large mid-Cretaceous dromaeosaurid predator with 9-15 inch middle-toe claws.
It was a fast-moving, agile, bipedal (walked on two legs), bird-like dinosaur. It had a curved, flexible neck and a big head. Sharp, serrated teeth were set into very powerful jaws. Each of its three fingers on each arm had large, sharp, curved claw.
It had four-toed feet; the second toe had a 9-15 inch (23-38 cm) sickle-like claw and the other toes had smaller claws. Its long tail had bony rods running along the spine giving it rigidity; the tail was used for balance and fast turning ability.
It had a relatively large brain and large, keen, eyes. Utahraptor was 16-23 feet (5-7 m) long and may have weighed about 1 ton.
