A sketch of Dakotaraptor steini (Image: Emily Willoughby/KU)

Velociraptor, though the most famous raptor, was not actually that large. It was, as Discover Magazine puts it, “roughly the size of a turkey.”

But millions of years ago, there were giant raptors (or, more properly, dromaeosaurids). And paleontologists working in the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota have found a new one—Dakotaraptor steini, which was about 17 feet long and had a front claw that measured 9.5 inches along the outer curve.

Before Dakotaraptor steini, only two other giant raptors had ever been found in North America. A raptor larger and older than the Dakotaraptor is known: the Utahraptor, which was around 22 feet long, according to Discover Magazine. But since these two American beasts lived millions of years apart, there would have been no giant-raptor-on-giant-raptor fights. 

Bonus finds: Excellent ancient mosaic, a snail even tinier than this tiny snail, hoard of coins

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