Pyroraptor

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* Other Fauna/Minor#Pyroraptor

## PyroraptorFire Thief

### Temporal Range

83.5 - 70.6 million years ago, Campanian - Maastrichtian Stage, Late Cretaceous Period

## Characteristics

### Diet

Carnivore

**Sickle Claw Length** of 6.5 centimeters (2.5 inches)

***Pyroraptor*** (Fire Thief) is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived on the Ibero-Armorican Island (made up by what is now modern day southern France and northeastern Spain) 83.5 - 70.6 million years ago, from the Campanian to the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period.

## Description

### Size and Physique

*Pyroraptor olympius* was discovered in 1992 by the foot of Mont Olympe in Provence, France (not to be confused for Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece), following a forest fire (hence its genus and species name). It was a small dromaeosaurid known from two teeth (flattened, curved backwards, with the serrations on the back edge being finer than the serrations on the front edge), arm and foot bones, tail bones, and a piece of the vertebra. Otherwise, very little is known about the animal itself. It is currently unknown if it was a conventional dromaeosaurid or one of the unenlagiines, gracile, long-snouted dromaeosaurids (with members ranging from the small *Buitreraptor* to the large, fish-eating *Austroraptor*, which was featured in the second segment of Swamps). The unenlagiines are usually seen as exclusive to South America, though it has been theorized that unenlagiines may have existed in other Gondwanan continents as well, with *Rahonavis* of the Maevarano Formation and *Pyroraptor* believed to be possible members of the subfamily.

### Prehistoric Planet's Depiction

***“ Baby ammonites can do something remarkable. Each makes its own bid for freedom, forcing them together. The combined effort means they effectively move as one. Each is carried along on this tiny, living tide, pushed over the bare rock by those behind, eventually escaping to deeper water. Now, they wait for the rising tide. But not everyone escapes. Countless are left stranded. Food for scavengers, like these baby Pyroraptors. The rest are carried by powerful currents many miles from land. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Oceans*
By the end of the third segment of Oceans, several newly-hatched *Nostoceras* escape the evaporating rock pools of the coast of the La Bouchard locality, swept by the rising tide into the sea. Even so, several of the baby ammonites are left stranded on the rocky beaches, with two juvenile *Pyroraptors* visiting the area to feast on the dead ammonites. These hatchlings appear to use the exact same model as that of the two young *Kuru kulla* seen in the third segment of Badlands, down to the coloration of their feathery coats.

## Habitat

***“ Danger in the ocean doesn't only come from deadly hunters. It could come from the sea itself. Here, around the islands of prehistoric Europe, it's the power of the tide that creates challenges for life, especially for the tiniest creatures. ”***

― **David Attenborough**, *Oceans*
For most of the Mesozoic Era, the majority of Europe (most especially central Europe, which was a part of the supercontinent of Gondwanaland) was a series of islands scattered across the prehistoric Tethys Ocean. *Pyroraptor* was a resident of the early Maastrichtian Argiles et Grès à Reptiles Formation (also called the Argiles Rutilantes Formation) of southern France, part of what is known as the Ibero-Armorican Island, a Late Cretaceous landmass that encompasses most of southern France and northeastern Spain. The segment it appeared in (specified as taking place in the "La Bouchard Locality" in the Arc Basin of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France) was shot on Porto Santo Island near Madeira, Portugal.

*Pyroraptor* lived alongside animals like the medium-sized Campanian majungasaurine abelisaurid *Arcovenator*, several titanosaurs, the giant, flightless bird *Gargantuavis*, ornithopods like *Rhabdodon*, and the small nodosaurid *Struthiosaurus* (not to be confused with the North American ornithomimosaur *Struthiomimus*). It was also possible that the massive azhdarchid *Hatzegopteryx*, hailing from Hațeg Island of Romania, visited the Ibero-Armorican island from time to time, as its remains (or, at least, remains of similarly-large relatives) were found all over Europe. *Pyroraptor* also lived alongside another similar dromaeosaur, *Variraptor*. The idea that both animals are one and the same is yet to be confirmed due to a lack in overlap of their currently discovered remains, though two different types of dromaeosaur ulna in southern France suggests that they are two distinct species.

## Behavior

Not much can be assumed from the brief appearance of the *Pyroraptor* hatchlings. Their short moment on Prehistoric Planet does at least show that they would opportunistically scavenge dead animals like any other predator, and that the young appear to be independent, unlike the juveniles of other dromaeosaurs in the series like *Velociraptor* and *Kuru kulla*, which are cared for by their parents, though it is possible that they were simply wandering close to at least one parent present offscreen. If the latter case is true, the parent of these hatchlings may have potentially lead them there to see and learn the feeding opportunity by the coast (courtesy of the tides and evaporating rock pools), similar to how one male *Pectinodon* brought his hatchlings to an evaporating soda lake to take advantage of the feeding opportunities in the area in the third segment of North America.

## Trivia

### Speculation

The two *Pyroraptor* chicks look identical to the pair of juvenile *Kuru kulla* seen in the third segment of Badlands. This is not entirely implausible, since the young of closely-related species tend to resemble each other, with both the *Pyroraptor* and *Kuru kulla* chicks looking similar (but not identical) to the *Velociraptor* chicks seen in the second segment of Badlands. This can also be observed in the modern-day relatives of dromaeosaurs, birds, where different genera can at times seem very similar - if not almost indistinguishable - even as adults.

## References

1. ↑ The Gondwana supercontinent after amalgamation of West and East Gondwana resulting from the formation of the East African orogen.
2. ↑ I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast, Episode 446: Dinosaur-era Oceans and Darren Naish from Prehistoric Planet 2
3. ↑ Naish, Darren (@TetZoo) (June 18, 2023) on Twitter, regarding the capability of *Hatzegopteryx* to fly from Romania to Italy and remains of similar azhdarchids across Europe
4. ↑ New data on the Dromaeosauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of southern France