page_title: Dakotaraptor
section_title: Size
hierarchical_section_title: Dakotaraptor / Description / Size
caption_attribution_description: English: A restored replica of the Dakotaraptor holotype skeleton compared to silhouettes of Deinonychus and Velociraptor, showing the difference in body size
context_page_description: Dakotaraptor is a potentially chimaeric genus of large dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous period. The remains have been found in the Maastrichtian stage of the Hell Creek Formation, dated to the very end of the Mesozoic era, making Dakotaraptor one of the last surviving dromaeosaurids. The remains of D. steini were discovered in a multi-species bonebed. Elements of the holotype and referred specimens were later found to belong to trionychid turtles, and further analysis of potential non-dromaeosaurid affinities of the holotype and referred material have not yet been conducted. Phylogenetic analyses of D. steini place it in a variety of positions in the Dromaeosauridae.
context_section_description: Dakotaraptor is exceptionally large for a dromaeosaurid; it has an estimated adult length of 5.5 m (18 ft). In 2016 other estimations suggested a length of 4.35-6 m (14.3-19.7 ft) in length and 220-350 kg (485-772 lbs) in weight.
  This approaches the size of the largest known dromaeosaurid, Utahraptor. Dakotaraptor however, does not have the proportions and adaptations of Utahraptor, but more closely resembles smaller dromaeosaurids like Deinonychus.
caption: A restored replica of the Dakotaraptor holotype compared to silhouettes of Deinonychus, Velociraptor and a human
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