Sauronitholestes "Raptor" Dinosaur Tooth from Hell Creek

Description: Sauronitholestes was a member of quite an interesting family that includes the so called raptors, the informal name for Velociraptors. See the background information below. This tooth is attached to some of the matrix from the discovery site. Personally, I find teeth tooth locked in some badlands marly matrix provides for a more interesting fossil presentation.

The distinctive dromaeosaurid bauplan helped to rekindle theories that dinosaurs may have been active, fast, and closely related to birds. subsequent research supports a consensus that at least some, and in all likelyhood all dromaeosaurids, were covered in feathers, including large vaned wing and tail feathers. Like other theropods, dromaeosaurids were obligately bipedal; i.e., they exclusively walked on their hind legs. Although other theropods walked with three toes contacting the ground, fossilized tracks show that dromaeosaurids ostensibly held their second toe off the ground in a hyperextended position, with only the third and fourth toes bearing the animal’s weight. Dromaeosaurid fossils have been found in Argentina, Canada, Europe, North America, North Africa, Japan, China, Mongolia, Madagascar, and Antarctica.