Raptors Really Ran in Packs —in China

Footprints reveal Jurassic Park-style dinos with nasty claws
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 29, 2007 8:06 PM CDT
Raptors Really Ran in Packs —in China
This image released by the American Museum of Natural History in New York shows the ulna, or forearm bone, of a Velociraptor the terrifying predator made famous in the movie Jurassic Park, found in Mongolia and dating from the Cretaceous Period, approximately 80 million years ago. An enlargement of...   (Associated Press)

The dinos depicted in Jurassic Park really were big and nasty and hunted in packs, and fossilized footprints show where they did it: in China, about 100 millions ago. Standing 1.2 meters tall at the hip, the dromeosaurs ran in packs of six and held up big killing claws—just like in the movie. They weighed about 200 pounds, experts say, like a big cougar or jaguar.

But they weren't Velociraptors, dinos that grew only to turkey-size. Until today's update, the closest dino to Spielberg's predators were Utahraptors, but they didn't move in packs or raise that terrible claw. Scientists had thought large raptors once roamed Asia, but today's report is the first to prove it, reports NewScientist. (More dinosaurs stories.)

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