Red in Claw
Alfred Lord Tennyson described Nature as "red in tooth and claw." Perhaps no other creatures embody that description so well as the deinonychosaurs, those carnivorous dinosaurs infamous for their deadly dentition and distinctive sickle-shaped claw.
Alfred Lord Tennyson described Nature as "red in
tooth and claw." Perhaps no other creatures embody that description so
well as the deinonychosaurs, those carnivorous dinosaurs infamous for
their deadly dentition and distinctive sickle-shaped claw. In the
current issue of Nature researchers report having unearthed the
first clear evidence of this group in the Southern Hemisphere. Previous
discoveries had taken place in North America and Asia. The new species,
dubbed Neuquenraptor argentinus, hails from the Cretaceous of
Argentina and exhibits the same small, light build and razor-sharp claw
that typify the deinonychosaurs. Based on this find, the researchers
believe that the group may have originated back when the continents
were still lumped together into the single land mass, Pangea.