On the Wing by Alexander David E.;

Author:Alexander, David E.; [David E. Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2015-08-07T11:38:00+00:00

Figure 6.2:

(Top) This Venn diagram names many of the dinosaur subgroups close to the bird lineage and shows how they are nested. (Bottom) A phylogeny demonstrating the same relationships. (Courtesy of S. T.)

Box 6.1: The “Real” Velociraptor

Scientists know of Velociraptor from several fossils found in and near Mongolia starting in the 1920s. It is very similar to Deinonychus, found in North America and described in the 1960s. Both were lightly built, agile predators with the famous, enlarged “killing” toe claw; Deinonychus actually means “terrible claw.” (Scientists disagree on whether the enlarged claw was actually for killing prey; biomechanical studies suggest it may have been used to hold down smaller prey or in defense rather than in slashing attacks.) The public knows of Velociraptor from the “Jurassic Park” book and movies, which, however, were not entirely accurate. At less than 1 meter (about 2 or 3 feet) tall, Velociraptor would not have been a very menacing villain. The movie “velociraptors” seem to have been mostly based on the much larger (and scarier) Deinonychus. Thanks to the movies’ terminology, however, “velociraptor” has entered the general lexicon whereas few people other than scientists know of Deinonychus.

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