Utahraptor ostrommaysi:A Paleobiological Analysis
Taxonomy of Utahraptor ostrommaysi
Utahraptor ostrommaysi
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order:Saurischia
Suborder:Theropoda
Family: Dromaeosauridae
Subfamily: Dromaeosaurinae
Genus:Utahraptor
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Period: Early Cretaceous
Time Span:132–119 Ma
Discoverers: James Kirkland, Rob Gaston, and Don Burge
Place of discovery: Utah, Cedar Mountain formation
year of discovery:1991
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Anatomy
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Length: 16 to 23 feet (5-7 m)
Height:About 6 ft (1.7 m) tall at the hips
Weight:700 KG (1,500 lbs)
Diet:carnivorous
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Utahraptor ostrommaysi is the largest member of Dromaeosaurinae and perhaps the largest member of Dromaeosauridae. Utahraptor was a typical Dromaeosaur with a long stiff tail, strong calf and leg muscles(The term Dromaeosaur means "running lizard" in Greek as all of the species within Dromaeosauridae have been found with strong leg bones and muscle attachments) to be able to run long distances and at great speed, and 2 huge slashing claws on each of it's feet. In U.ostrommaysi , these claws measured up to 22 centimeters in length. The animal would also use it's powerful and well muscled arms to grab onto potential prey items or to steal eggs from nests.
Utahraptor has a typical theropod skull with binocular vision, fenestrae where muscle would attach to the skull,and sharp teeth used to tear flesh from it's prey. There is currently a debate as to whether U.ostrommaysi had feathers. Although no fossils of the animal have been found with feathers, some paleontologists speculate that it had feathers due to many of it's Dromaeosaurid having had feathers. For the purpose of this article, the animal will not be shown with feathers due to no concrete evidence it possessed them. If Utahraptor did indeed have feathers, they would have been used for insulation and perhaps even display. The animal would have used it's long muscled tail to balance itself as it ran in pursuit of it's prey or just running down trails. Scientists speculate that It's tail allowed it to perform quick turns while it was running, an essential skill needed for a pack hunter.
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Predatory Behavior
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Although no pack fossils of U.ostrommaysi have been found, prominent paleontologists such as Robert Bakker, have theorized that Utahraptor and other Dromaeosaurids hunted in packs. Evidence of this include teeth and claw marks on fossilized large herbivores. the hunting strategy of the animal is thought to have been something like this. A group of them would approach a herd of prey items. The raptors would first ambush the herd, making them stampede. Then, the other raptors would run alongside the prey and separate the slowest or weakest animal from the herd by herding it away from the herd. Then, the raptors would attack, launching themselves at the animal's flank biting and slashing with their arms and kicking at them with their deadly 22 cm foot claws. The prey animal would eventually have lost the energy to fight back and the raptors would have had a successful hunt. Seeing a pack of Utahraptor assaulting a hapless prey animal would have been an amazing and terrible sight to behold.
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Social Behavior
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Little is known for certain how extinct animals behaved, but there are theories on how they lived and died. Paleontologist Robert Bakker theorizes that Utahraptor was a very social and active creature. the animal most likely moved in packs and raised their young in a group environment. Similar to modern pack hunters, the juveniles probably were brought food by the adults and were cared for by the whole pack as opposed to just the parents. Perhaps cannibalism was practiced during times of extreme scarcity, but there is no evidence either way. There probably was a social order as we also see in modern day examples of pack hunters. The order probably determined who would eat first, who would watch the juveniles during a hunt and other similar things. It is not known if there was an "Alpha" pair or animal as is seen in Canis lupus and other pack hunters.
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Conclusion
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Utahraptor ostrommaysi is the stuff of nightmares, a giant, fast moving, intelligent pack hunter, it probably was one of the most fearsome land predators to have ever existed. A look at it's giant foot claws and sharp teeth, give us an idea of the terror and awe seeing one of these animals in the flesh would have instilled in us. Truly, a terrifying and fascinating creature.
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Sources
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http://www.museum.ceu.edu/ut-rap.htm
Dinosaurs: The Textbook by Spencer G. Lucas
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsid...osauridae.html
Raptor Red, by Robert T. Bakker
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Originally Posted by misfitsfiend138
