The Redpath Museum Dromaeosaurus is on loan from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta. It is located in a display about the Origin of Birds. The two skeletons above the display are a chicken and an ostrich to show similarities between Dromaeosaurus and modern birds.
Species: Dromaeosaurus albertensis
Group: Theropoda
Family: Raptoridae
Name means: Running Lizard
Lived during: Late Cretaceous (74 million years ago)
Source: Osado. Accessed at the Wikipedia Commons. License terms.
Adult size: 1.8 metres (6 ft)
Weight: 25 kilograms (55 lbs)
Source: Mariana Ruiz Villareal. Accessed at the Wikipedia Commons (includes licensing information).
Diet: Carnivorous. Dromaeosaurs could leap onto their prey, digging in their front claws to keep the prey at arm’s length while balancing on one leg to deliver slashing kicks with the other leg. The large sickle-claw on their feet could cut through dinosaur skin.
Source: EOZyo. Accessed at the Wikipedia Commons (includes licensing information).
Discovery: in Alberta and midwestern USA.
Other info: The more familiar term for these kinds of dinosaurs is ‘raptors’. The first raptors were discovered in Canada in 1914. Raptors had bigger brains compared to other carnivorous dinosaurs. Fossils found in China show prints of feathers or down which indicate that these dinosaurs may have developed wings.