Dakotaraptor

Dakotaraptor (name meaning "Dakota Thief") is a genus of large dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that originated during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now North America. Measuring 6 meters and weighing 350 kilos, Dakotaraptor was the second largest member of the Dromaeosauridae family, after the much earlier Utahraptor. Like Utahraptor, its great size allowed it to hunt down large prey animals, such as the duck-billed Edmontosaurus and the three-horned Triceratops. And like other members of the dromaeosaur family, Dakotaraptor was armed with sharp claws on its hands and feet, self-replenishing teeth in its jaws, and the famous sickle-like claws that all raptors are famous for.

During the Series 1 finale, "End of the Road," a small pack Dakotaraptors, consisting of four individuals, including a pregnant female, were they are died from the asteroid and a interupting volcano.

Era & Discovery
Dakotaraptor was one of the largest dromaeosaurs to have ever walk the Earth, being only a few feet shorter than the much older Utahraptor in both height and length. It was also one of the last and youngest dromaeosaurs to ever roam the Earth, having lived at the end of the Cretaceous period, 70 to 65 million years ago, in what is now North America. While it wasn't the largest predator of its ecosystem, Dakotaraptor, in its own right, was still a deadly, mid-sized predator and shared its environment with other creatures like Edmontosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Ornithomimus, Triceratops, Torosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Dracorex, Thescelosaurus, Dinilysia, Didelphodon, Nyctosaurus, Quetzalcoatlus, Dromaeosaurus, Acheroraptor, Anzu, and the fearsome Tyrannosaurus.

As its name suggests, Dakotaraptor was discovered in the Dakotas, specifically South Dakota, where the creature's fossils were first found in 2005 in the northwestern corner of the state, by Robert DePalma, from a fluvial bonebed within the upper Hell Creek Formation. Subsequent excavations at the same site would turn up more Dakotaraptor fossils from a second individual. However, it would take another ten years before DePalma, along with David Burnham, Larry Martin, Peter Larson, and Robert Bakker, would properly describe the fossils. Its species name was named after paleontologist Walter Stein, who discovered the oviraptorid Anzu, a large oviraptorosaur that lived with Dakotaraptor, and a yet-to-be-described transitional tyrannosaur between Daspletosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. Although it is definitively known from South Dakota, isolated teeth from Montana have also been attributed to Dakotaraptor.

Physical Attributes
Like Utahraptor, Dakotaraptor is famous for its size. It stood 5.9 to 6.5 feet (1.8 to 2 m) tall, measured 14.3 to 19.7 feet (4.35 to 6 m) long, and weighed 220 to 350 kilograms (485 to 772 lbs), making it the second largest dromaeosaur, after Utahraptor. And as with other raptors, Dakotaraptor had large eyes with excellent vision, which would have helped it hunt in the dark, large, grasping hands tipped with sharp, pointy claws that would have helped it rip through flesh, and a pair of sickle-shaped claws that were held up above the ground to avoid getting damage while the animal ran or walked.

The sickle-like claws on Dakotaraptor's feet were large. They measured 24 centimeters (9.4 inches) long, along the curve of the claw, and 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) in diameter, and were used for gripping onto and disemboweling prey. The bump at the base of the sickle claws, where flexor muscles would have been attached to, were larger than that of any other known dromaeosaur, relative to claw size, suggesting that Dakotaraptor had the strongest slashing strength of any dromaeosaur.

Despite rivaling Utahraptor in terms of size, though, Dakotaraptor was much lighter and slender than the much bulkier and heavier Utahraptor. It also had proportionally longer legs than Utahraptor, suggesting that it could chase down prey for much longer period of time. In addition, its body proportions were similar to that of smaller dromaeosaurs, like Deinonychus, suggesting that it may had relied on its hand claws, on top of using its sickle claws, to inflict wounds on its victims and used its wings to stabilize itself while kicking at prey.

Behavior & Traits
Like all dromaeosaurs, Dakotaraptor was an intelligent ambush hunter. They were deadly and vicious, being able to kill their prey in a quick and brutal fashion. They preferred to stalk their prey, following them unseen under the cover of vegetation and/or darkness, before bursting out from their cover and swiftly closing in for the kill. As they attacked their prey, Dakotaraptor would have used both its hand and feet claws to slash and rip through flesh. It would also rely on powerful kicks to inflict more lethal wounds, using its wings to balance itself as it kicked its prey.

In addition to being a deadly and cunning predator, Dakotaraptor was a semi-social animal, either living and hunting in small packs of around 2 to 6 closely-related individuals, or living a solitary life. A pack of Dakotaraptors usually consist of an alpha pair, two to three of their siblings, an adopted outsider or two, and chicks of varying ages. As chicks mature, they can either stay with the pack or leave and fend for themselves. Like Utahraptor, Dakotaraptor employed a strict pecking order whenever they feasted. The adults would get to eat their fill of the kill first while the younger and much weaker juveniles would have to wait before getting their chance to get their fill.

Due to their large sizes, Dakotaraptors are able to hunt and kill large hadrosaurs and ceratopsians, though taking down such large creatures can occasionally prove too much for a large pack to handle. Therefore, a pack of Dakotaraptor will usually target the immature individuals of these herbivorous dinosaurs, juvenile Ankylosaurus, and the occasional sub-adult T. rex. As for a lone Dakotaraptor, they will mainly target smaller creatures such as Thescelosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Dracorex, Ornithomimus, Dromaeosaurus, Acheroraptor, Anzu, Didelphodon, and Dinilysia, though they, too, will target lone juvenile Ankylosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, Torosaurus, and, if they're lucky enough, unattended Tyrannosaurus hatchlings.

Journal Entry
TBA

Trivia

 * Dakotaraptor is the second largest species of dromaeosaur to be brought back to the park.
 * Unlike other dromaeosaurs depicted in the series, Dakotaraptor is the only dromaeosaur depicted with some sort of feather covering on its body instead of scales.
 * Dakotaraptor may had been sexually dimorphic, as fossil evidence suggests, having both a gracile form and robust form.
 * At least three wishbones have been attributed to Dakotaraptor. However, later studies found that none of them belonged to Dakotaraptor, with one having come from a prehistoric soft-shell turtle.
 * It was suggested, at one point, that Dakotaraptor was the adult stage/a synonym of Acheroraptor; a small, Velociraptor-like dromaeosaur that lived around the same time as Dakotaraptor and Dromaeosaurus. However, a phylogenetic study found no close relationship between the two dromaeosaurs, debunking this theory for the time being.