Utahraptor

Utahraptor (Utah Thief) is the biggest dromaeosaur. It lived on earth 127 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous period. Utahraptor can grow up to 7 meters (22.9 feet) long and about 4 meters (13.1 feet) high. It has no evidence of feathers; however scientists speculate that it does have feathers since other dromeosaurs have feathers.

Its most amazing feature is the sickle-shaped claw on the inner toe. It could go a full 180 degrees round extremely quick. This theropod is said to be really quick, able to reach 64 km (39.8 miles) per hour. It was very agile, turning 90 degrees in less than 1 second.

These huge Dromaeosaurs hunted in packs, co-operating to take down its prey. It used its huge inner claw to suffocate the victim, something like Velociraptor. The arms were probably used to grab on to prey while they were trying to make the kill. The head was used as another 'suffocating weapon', disabling the animal from breathing and letting it die off as a result. They also obviously could claw at their prey with their claws.

More real-life information: Utahraptor at Wikipedia.

Jurassic Park Franchise
Utahraptor doesn't appear and isn't mentioned in the novels and movies. It does appear in the Jurassic Park merchandise.

However the raptors featured in the Jurassic Park Franchise were much larger than Velociraptors. Utahraptor was found in 1991, just before the production of the movie started, the Jurassic Park Raptor Card Velociraptor says about this: "During the filming of Jurassic Park, a Velociraptor dubbed Utahraptor was unearthed in the desert west of Grand Junction Colorado mathing the proportions of the Raptors seen in the movie." The size of Utahraptor might therefore have inspired the raptor design of the movie. Although the featured raptors weren't as big as Utahraptor, but as big as a Deinonychus.

There are some rumors between fans that Utahraptor will appear in Jurassic Park IV, but this is unconfirmed.

Jurassic Park inspired games

 * In Jurassic Park for Sega CD, Utahraptor was mentioned by Dr. Robert T. Bakker for the information on Velociraptor.


 * Utahraptor is Tribe C Alpha Raptor in Jurassic Park: Trespasser. It served as the final boss.


 * Utahraptor can be created from paleo-DNA in the game Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.

Toy lines
Utahraptor has been featured in Jurassic Park Series 2 and The Lost World Series 1. It is very similar to a Velociraptor. In the Jurassic Park Series 2 line, it is called 'Ripper". it features kick slash action and electronic screech

Trivia
Since the Raptors in Jurassic Park for Sega CD are called Utahraptors by Dr. Robert T. Bakker, this must mean that the raptors in this game are Utahraptors.