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The Utahraptor ("Utah raider") is the largest of the "raptor" dinosaurs known, and a vicious predator. From the Barremian faunal stage of the Cretaceous period, it was also the earliest.
Utahraptor It relied on its 25 cm (10 in) claws on either foot to deliver the death blows to its victims while it held them down with its elongated arms. At anywhere between 5–7 m (16–23 ft) in length and possibly up to 2.5 m (8 ft) tall, it posed a dangerous threat, and theoretically could take down anything it chose, given that it hunted in packs. The intelligence of the creature is debated, albeit it is considered to have been very intelligent for a dinosaur, making it a successful variant among its kind. Like Troodon, Utahraptor may have been as intelligent as a modern bird of the same size.
Kirkland, Gaston, and Burge discovered this dromaeosaurid in 1993 in Grand County, Utah, within the Cedar Mountain Formation. It was during their discovery that the movie Jurassic Park was being filmed, and, upon hearing of the find, the filmmakers used it as a model for their Velociraptor, although this story may be apocryphal as the movie raptor was between the sizes of Deinonychus and Utahraptor.
Classification
A slightly more detailed classification:
The type species, Utahraptor ostrommaysorum, was named for the American paleontologist John Ostrom, from Yale University's Peabody Museum, and Chris Mays, of Dinamation International.
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