Utahraptor: The monster raptor that terrorized North America

[@prototropo]

I grew up on the Morrison Formation and we spent summers in the mountains between Morrison and Utah's dinosaur beds. It's an intriguing, majestic, irreplaceable land of geologic grandeur and biologic ghosts. The entire Colorado Plateau is a singular treasure of North American basin and orogeny, in my opinion.

[@dino-gen]

Those are some childhood memories I envy my friend 🤓

[@Cosmo-Kramer]

@@dino-gen Nice video, although I would've liked you to address the functionality of the Utahraptor's sickle claw. As you no doubt know, while big, it is still relatively small compared to the overall size of the Utahraptor, when compared to the relatively larger size of sickle claws on smaller raptors. That has led some to believe that Utahraptor didn't use its sickle claw in hunting or combat, but rather just for mundane things like digging. I reject that theory, and am convinced they used it for hunting and combat, that it was plenty big enough to cause serious damage either by afflicting deep puncture wounds in their quarry or opponent, and/or by kicking with the leg to slice long open gashes in the sides their bodies, causing massive blood flow and shock, and very quick death. What is your opinion on how and what for the Utahraptors used their sickle claws?

[@tallman2210]

Utahraptor probably specialized in hunting iguanadontids and juvenile sauropods.

[@jihunshin4864]

And even when hunting the iguanodontids, it would have looked for the sick and young ones and avoided the massive adults as Iguanocolossus was a HUGE, bulky animal.

[@jakeanderson8156]

Excellent video! One of the best short videos I have seen on Utahraptor. Thank you for crediting Don Burge in this video. I took several college classes from him. He was a great teacher and very interesting person to learn from.

[@dino-gen]

Thank you, I’m really glad you enjoyed it. Also that’s incredible! You must have learned so much!

[@johnsteiner3417]

I read another article describing Utahraptor having been in an environment devoid of larger theropods like tyrannosaurs. It was suggested that Utahraptor was in the evolutionary trajectory of replacing top tier predators, and would've enlarged more but for mass extinction. If they did hunt socially my amateur guess is pairs to maybe three or four, with the extra being from prior clutches of the parents.

[@dino-gen]

It certainly wouldn’t surprise me! By the looks of it no other predator was standing in its way! Then again, if it was getting by just fine by pack hunting, it would only have gotten bigger if the prey animals did the same

[@davidsheckler4450]

Do you have any physical evidence or do you just Sheeple along believing hearsay 🤷 no one can prove the existence of fake-a-saurses

[@davidsheckler4450]

Supposedly fully grown functioning adults looking like this 🤤🤪🤡 bcs of Jurassic Park 🤦

[@SolarpunkEnjoyer]

Utahraptor lived in the Early Cretaceous, between 135 and 130 million years ago, so waaaay before the K-Pg mass extinction. Its demise was probably related to the reappearance of large allosauroids in the area, namely Acrocanthosaurus.

[@kyachdistent1301]

@@SolarpunkEnjoyer Exactly, or it even lived at the same time, so the article @johnsteiner3417 above was reading is nonsensical. There were always big predators around in every terrestrial area now, or if not, it's cos they haven't yet been found. Utahaptor is extremely massive for a dromaeosaurid, but still smaller than the iguanodants and sauropods and surviving stegosaurids it likely lived with. Granted it stood taller than the well-armed early nodosaurids, but would have hard a hard time with them. If Acrocanthosaurus squeezed them out, that's just more proof that guy kind of owned a segment of the Early Cretaceous.

[@Magnaraptor1836]

You didn't address it's toe claw being unique even among dromaeosaurs. Unlike other raptors, Utahraptor's killing claw was relatively thin and had a sharp inner edge that would have made it incredibly effective at inflicting horrendous gashing wounds onto large prey. I 100% agree that Utahraptor targeted larger animals using it's beast of a claw and let the smaller predators fill the niche of small-game hunters.

[@laurachapple6795]

"Dinosaurs would look silly with feathers!" Judging by their modern descendants, they'd look way sillier without them.

[@stevenbragg85]

Those people havent been chased by a turkey

[@Nanuqsaurslikespaleo]

​@@stevenbragg85 or a goose... those things are terryfing

[@Nikanoru]

If you haven't and you really like raptors you should read the book Raptor Red. It follows the life of a utah raptor in a kind of animal perspective nature documentary style. Even goes into pov chapters with other animals. I think the part with the tar pits in the book must have been inspired by that explanation for the fossils. In that book they hunted in a pair or a group of three I think but had some troubles keeping their numbers up. It's probably one of my favorite books, I love the concept.

[@palacioscarlo745]

The hand claws and foot claws of Utahraptor allowed them to tackle large animals like sauropods, ornithopods, and ankylosaurids.

[@palacioscarlo745]

The tail and counterbalance of Utahraptor can make a sharp turn on a dime when it comes to speed and agility during the hunt.

[@wyvolf]

i love the dromaeosaurid clade (?), they're so cool. I think Utahraptors and another raptor, the Austroraptor, are one of the coolest ones. As for a pack thing, imo I think it's more suiting to believe they lived in very small family groups (i.e mom, dad, babies, or even just a mother and her young) for a time till the young are old enough to leave. but at the same time I can imagine some lived with the parent for longer if it served beneficial. Maybe when it came to mating seasons as a show for strength maybe the males specifically hunted in groups to show off which one is stronger out of a group. Or Who knows, maybe its the other way around since some animals today show females to be more dominate than males. That's at least my personal beliefs, based on it just makes sense to me - as said personally.

[@dino-gen]

Speculation is part of how we grow this science, and that certainly sounds like a pretty solid theory to me 😊

[@davidsheckler4450]

I bet you sleep in fake-a-saurs PJ's 😅🤣😂

[@wyvolf]

@@davidsheckler4450 close! I sleep in bring me the horizon band shirts 🙏

[@kyachdistent1301]

Yes, the pack thing was always hard to believe properly, what you describe seems far more likely.

[@SandManOnTop]

Dayum ur voice is actually so calming

[@dino-gen]

Glad you enjoy my soothing tones lol hope you continue to enjoy them too :D

[@MarlinMay]

I've always been fascinated by convergent evolution, especially when similar body plans seem to re-occur over very long stretches time. To me, the similarity between Phorusrhacids, like Titanis walleri, and the Dromaeosaurids is so close that I wonder if Titanis walleri and their kin hunted in cooperative flocks.

[@palacioscarlo745]

The large brain and eyes of Utahraptor have the ability to see well at night which allows them to use the major part of their hunting strategy.

[@foxtrotx-ray5283]

The speed and Bulk kind of give me a "Bear Niche" vibe, I don't think Pack Hunter.

[@dim4757]

The whole pack hunting topic/debate for me is a bit more complex than it might initially seem. What defines "pack hunting" in the context of Utahraptor? If they did group up, did they actually live together in each other's company on a consistent basis, or did they instead congregate when the occasion called for it (such as hunting large game) but then dispersed soon after each individual ate their fill and generally lived separate lives outside of hunting? If they did LIVE together, did the groups generally consist of almost exclusively family members + unrelated mates? Were groups of mostly if not entirely unrelated individuals the norm? Was it more akin to a lion pride in which groups consisted of 1 or 2 males and many females? Or the inverse, 1 or 2 females with many males. I suppose we may never truly know the details even if its proven that utahraptor would group up. I just think its fun to discuss the possibilities and different ways that this idea could be executed.

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

Subscribed. Btw, where did you get the images at 3:57?

[@dino-gen]

Woops! Forgot to add credit for those two pics 😬 thank you for bringing that to my attention! Just added them to the top of the credit list in the description. Also thank you! Your subscription is massively appreciated 😊

[@johnh539]

Even if they where not pack hunters they would be likely be cooperative hunters like Komodo dragons so would still be able to take down big pray.

[@kyachdistent1301]

But several would die doing it I'm sure. And if the loss was too great, they'd give up and go for something easier.

[@LoudmouthReviews]

Walking with Dinosaurs 2 should feature its most accurate portrayal ever of this dromeosaur

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

There not being any larger predators probably explains why Utahraptor is so big and non-raptor-like. Probably trying to occupy the empty niche of large carnivore that hunts/scavenges the herbivore megafauna. Also hunting in packs has a *massive* jump in difficulty from packs of 2 to packs of 3+, because with 2 makes it abnormally easy to distribute tasks. The only pack hunters of 3+ packs today are eusocial animals or Eutherians with their fancy corpus collosum. I would say in absence of evidence otherwise, it is probably best to assume the raptors either hunted in packs of 2 or were eusocial.

[@WildBillCox13]

Perfect monster for a "nearly Earth" fantasy. I use them myself in PatchWorld, qualifying various raptors as "Horrors, Terrors, and Kalamities" (in order of increasing size).

[@jasonlitz2907]

I mean Robert Burke's take is still valid to me. I believe they had social family units rather than packs. More of a mated pair/siblings. And they were able to take on prey that size with 2 members.

[@AdamBlack_Ice]

I have a question. Where did you get that music from at 3:57?

[@jamesaron1967]

Ambush predators aren't usually pack hunters. I think Utahraptor occupied a similar niche to _Smilodon_ and likely was a solitary hunter.

[@colinrogers9896]

Honestly (in my opinion) the more animalistic the dinosaur, the more real it feels, and the more horrifying they are

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

If T-Rex was the lion, tiger and bears these guyz were the wolves of the dino world

[@jonathanleonard1152]

Nice type case on the wall.

[@sparrowdrone]

There’s no doubt they hunted sauropods, only question what size they had to stop at

[@kyachdistent1301]

We don't know that at all they did, ornithopods, therizinosaurs, and other dromaeosaurs would be far easier to kill. Granted Miersaurus and Moabosaurus are smaller than your average sauropod, but still formidably sized enough to be problematic, as would be the massive Iguanacolossus, which could gut a Utahraptor with his thumb spikes, whap him with his tail and crush him underfoot if her got near. Utahraptor would be smart enough to when prey was too big and I think Sauropods would have outgrown him quickly. We have no evidence they pack hunted at all, large predators just don't, they wouldn't get on well enough, they'd want their own meal. Possibly a pair or trio now and again, and even that's not a sure guarantee of success.

[@marktaylor171]

There is a chance all the members of this species hunted in packs. It's something that is difficult to prove or disprove. If let's say a group of raptor fossils are found with a potential kill. It's very possible they did not hunt it. It's just as likely a creature kicked the bucket, and the raptors simply came together to scavenge. This is something that is seen in some birds, like vultures, for example. Using birds as a reference won't really give you any answers either. There are many different behaviors different birds exhibit, including intelligent, coordinated hunting methods. Since we have no DNA samples, there's no way to even look for genetic relationships among bird DNA samples.

[@dino-gen]

This much is true, birds are an incredibly diverse group. Even with DNA sampling though, it might not give us a clearer idea, since lions and tigers hunt in very different ways. Any evidence is, at the moment, purely circumstantial, but some speculations are closer than others!

[@Emoconsan]

I think they only hunt if they are relatives, meaning they're hunting in family packs if their blood related🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@nobodyimportant4778]

Are seagulls pack hunters? I mean one tries to eat something and its noises summon 80 more seagulls

[@dino-gen]

I wouldn't put them down as pack hunters since there is no co-operation or co-ordination, they're more 'swarm scavengers'...and a pain in the backside...

[@m-j107]

crazy Utahraptor

[@Elonics101]

QUESTION: what’s your opinion on the T-Rex, was it a huge buzzard or a predator?

[@dino-gen]

Predator, most definitely. It had way to many predator tools to just scavenge and healed over bite wounds on a Triceratops show it was hunting live prey, though no predator would turn down a free dead meal if they come across it!

[@playernotfound9489]

Utah raptor is just dakotaraptor but larger and less agile and fast. also smaller claw

[@Bagelgeuse]

And more valid.

[@thomasgumersell9607]

Utahraptor certainly was a very large Raptor. Their prey hunting ability would have been impressive. 💪🏻🙏🏻✨

[@kyachdistent1301]

No more impressive than any other dinosaur their size. And it WASN'T a raptor, those are BIRDS OF EFFING PREY! Get that pop-culture crap out your had, DROMAEOSAURID already!

[@thomasgumersell9607]

@@kyachdistent1301 thank you for your Intel on the correct name of this Dinosaur. I must have made an error from the video. 💪🏻🙏🏻✨

[@Eye_Exist]

the only logical reason why raptors had the massive claw would be that they climbed trees to wait for the unsuspecting prey and dove onto them, using the extra energy gained from the dive to strike with the claw. the claw would have massive disadvantage for chasing or ambushing the prey, as it would have tangled to any type of low vegetation like an anchor while providing no extra attack power at all, as the attack power comes from the muscles, not from the size of the claws. dive hunting would also explain why raptors/their relatives evolved into birds, as dive hunting would put pressure into controlling the dive, which would lead into evolution of flying feathers and eventually powered flight.

[@Eye_Exist]

spending majority of the time in the trees would also provide safety for the raptor, which in itself is a reason to spend majority of the time in the trees, suppose you can.

[@dino-gen]

It’s certainly possible, if you’re trying to take down big iguanadontids then it would also come in handy hanging on to them

[@Eye_Exist]

@@dino-gen hanging on the tree goes very well with hanging on the prey. and with the increased attack power gained from the dive a big raptor could have taken down a sauropod with a slash to throat or by piercing skull. bigger claw alone just takes more energy to operate, but if empowered by the dive, it gains the momentum of the whole body by the time spent diving.

[@Eye_Exist]

@@dino-gen imagine being a sauropod and sticking your head into a tree full of utahraptors. feathers certainly would provide stealth color for them. being mid low-high sized predator would mean you'd be competing both pack hunters and big theropod predators for your catch. it wouldn't make sense to evolve a anchor claw which would impair your running ability if you lived on open land or even worse, a forest on grass level.

[@56Seeker]

Seeing as dinos are birds, how much evidence of pack hunting is there in birds? Harris hawks, maybe, and that's it? Or are there more? Carrion eaters seem to flock on carcases much more readily than genuinely cooperative predation, as far as I know.

[@dino-gen]

Well, birds are an incredibly mixed bag, mixed enough to not make a sweeping statement and take each species as it comes with regards to extinct groups

[@PREHISTORIC.PRESIDENT.]

Can you make a break down of what if Utahraptor was placed in Africa

[@Windigo74]

That’s my pfp😂😂

[@jimmyp.6180]

I remember watching an interview with Kirkland, who has seemed to have developed some sort of hate-boner for Dr. Bakker, bringing him up repeatedly through the course of the interview. I remember Bakker was celebratory with Kirkland when he discovered the animal. Any idea what happened between them, why the falling out?

[@dino-gen]

I'm not actually too sure on that one. It's alarming how much beef crops up in this science, but I suppose it's bound to happen when you have those so passionate about a subject that has a large amount of conjecture

[@michelfraenkel4920]

Did it had hollow bones?

[@dino-gen]

Yes in the same that birds do, they weren’t 100% hollow but rather than being solid all the way through they were pneumatised, meaning they had a net like structure within them that made them lighter without compromising strength too much

[@michelfraenkel4920]

@@dino-gen okay interesting stuf. Thank you for your reply. 😊

[@michelfraenkel4920]

@@dino-gen so the net structure, was made out of bone.?

[@michelfraenkel4920]

@@dino-gen the thing that confuses me when we talking hollow bones, is that people tell me only birds have this. But for an example, a cow. When u see on a leg bone there, there is bonemarrow inside the bone, then whats the difference then?

[@dino-gen]

Yes it is a bit of a confusing one. Basically, animals with 'solid' bones have marrow running through them to produce red blood cells, whereas birds have the pneumatised net structure (which yes is made from bone), which many people call 'hollow', in their long bones, but in the more stout or fused bones (for example the pelvic girdle) they are filled with marrow just like mammals. The hollow parts are integrated into their respiratory system being filled with air sacs. Here is a great cross section showing a bird's hollow bone: www.sciencepartners.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/crosssec.jpg

[@manininikolas9310]

Just imagine an eagle with very short wings 🤔weighing 300 KILOS 😳ouchhh IN OUR TIME NOBODY ON LAND MAMMALS REPTILE ETC.....IN OUR TIME NOBODY will have challenge 🥴🥴🌏

[@antonytjp]

It’s hard to focus… I’m not thirsty 😂😂😂 shush I’m shushing myself…

[@dino-gen]

😂

[@kyachdistent1301]

There are no velociraptors in 'JPark' and never were.

[@gadielgonzalez2755]

Even if they hunted in packs its doubtful they hunted large healthy adults. Like most pack animals they would've targeted slower or weaker individuals.

[@daxbashir6232]

❤

[@Stevieboy130664]

Pack hunting depends on intelligence. How intelligent were these beasts?

[@dino-gen]

Well, another misconception from Jurassic park is that dromaeosaurs were these hyper intelligent animals that could open doors but the most intelligent dinosaurs were likely the troodontids (with the dromaeosaurs not far behind them) and even then we’re not talking leagues ahead of many of today’s birds. I would say they certainly had enough intelligence for pack hunting though

[@Saturns_Hal0]

There is no evidence of utahraptors hunting in packs

[@Spnozilla]

@@Saturns_Hal0 there’s no strong evidence but there is circumstantial evidence

[@Saturns_Hal0]

@@Spnozilla i guess

[@Saturns_Hal0]

@@Spnozilla its odd how theres more evidence of yutyrannus hunting in packs but less for utah

[@Cody38Super]

Just call them all "killer canaries", that'll piss off the "feathers are for fairies" idiots.

[@abdulazizrex]

300 kilograms is a laughable mass for this dinosaur! Utahraptor averaged 500 kilograms with very large individuals possibly reaching 700-750 kilograms!

[@willcarroll8438]

Bla bla bla despite the great content I can’t hear anything my eyes and ears are melting due to the hotness on my screen

[@dino-gen]

I agree, Utahraptor is one sexy dromaeosaur...

[@tomcross3000]

Kill adult sauropods? no darling. If Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus had trouble with more than one of them taking on a sauropod, no hope in hell this one could do better. Look it, we need to understand the tools and weapons that this raptor possessed. Hooked clawed hands, hooked toe claws and hooked sickle claw and a grasping jaw. Now think on which animals were a) big (or small) enough to tackle, latch onto, and that had a b) throat area thin enough to puncture into the windpipe with the sickle or c) a stomach accessible enough to casually slash into and rupture any organs in a sustained attack.. Iguanodonts spring to mind, and yes, baby sauropods, maybe even early ceratopsians if they were around, and you know what? fxxx it, sauropelta and other nodosaurs even with their protection, anything that the raptor could charge into and kick with enough kinetic force to flip over. BUT Her claws were not made to slash willy nilly, with reckless abandon on any part of any target.. if the flesh is too tough, the digit could break, or the claw could break off. And that's why sauropods are not on the regular menu and why they have to strategically position themselves to where is softest.. No, this predator's claws require every bit of surgical precision that Smilodon does with their giant teeth. Short, clean, simple, brutal as an axe chop. Not drawn out, need dinner now, stupid!

[@davidsheckler4450]

The cartoons that terrorize the Sheeple

[@bjd1980]

Talk faster!

[@blazingtrs6348]

turn up playback speed

[@dino-gen]

What can I say? I’m more snoop dogg than Eminem 🤷🏻‍♂️ …actually neither describe me very well, forget I said that.

[@coryfice1881]

I have never seen anyone claim feathers aren't scary. This is literally something paleonerds invented in their heads or is now so antiquated that it's staler than those 2016 memes republicans still milk on twitter(never X)