Dromaeosaurus

Dromaeosaurus was the namesake predator of the dromaeosaurid family, living during the Late Cretaceous in ancient Alberta, Canada. Discovered in 1914 by Barnum Brown along the Red Deer River, it is known from a well-preserved partial skull and associated foot bones. Measuring approximately two metres from snout to tail tip and weighing around twenty kilograms, it was roughly comparable in size to a wolf. Unlike many of its lighter-skulled relatives, Dromaeosaurus possessed a deep, solidly built snout with robust, serrated teeth, indicating that it relied heavily on crushing bites in addition to its sickle foot claws when tackling prey. Its large eyes and expanded braincase suggest acute vision and keen coordination. As an active hunter in rich coastal river valleys, it shared its habitat with ceratopsians, duck-billed hadrosaurs, and rival theropods like Saurornitholestes.

It possessed a unusually robust skull and powerful jaw muscles capable of delivering a bite significantly stronger than that of Velociraptor.

Where and when

Dromaeosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous, from 76.5 to 74.8 million years ago (Campanian age). Its remains come from Canada, in the Dinosaur Park Formation.

The numbers

Length 1.9 m (estimates run from 1.8 to 2 m). Mass about 19 kg. Hip height about 0.6 m. That is 1.1 human-lengths, or 0.17 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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