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Description
Two Deinonychus antirrhopus are fighting for territory. One of the individuals is knocked to the ground. Will it be able to avoid the fatal blow?

Deinonychus is one of the most historically important taxa in paleontology. Described from scattered fossils from Montana in 1969, this dinosaur forced scientists to reconsider their views on reptiles previously considered cold-blooded and slow-moving creatures. John Ostrom, describing Deinonychus, found it to have a number of key features, such as a folding wrist, bringing the animal closer to the primitive bird Archaeopteryx. The discovery of this theropod allowed to revive the hypothesis about the origin of birds from dinosaurs. In addition, the physique of Deinonychus suggested high activity, which led to a new view of dinosaurs as highly metabolic creatures, more similar to their modern descendants birds than other reptiles. This revolution in scientific perception became known as the "Dinosaur Revolution". In his wake, some paleontologists have suggested that Deinonychus and other bird-like theropods had feathers. Finds in Eastern China have confirmed this point of view.

Deinonychus reached 3.4 meters in length and weighed up to 73 kilograms. In other words, he was a medium-sized dromaeosaurid. The skull of Deinonychus was 41 centimeters long, with seventy saw-toothed teeth in the jaws. Due to the incompleteness of the material, Ostrom reconstructed the head of Deinonychus high and triangular, later a lower version became common. Based on the teeth marks, a strong Deinonychus bite has been suggested, although this association is controversial. The hand had three curved claws, and on the second toe of the foot there was a huge sickle-shaped claw. Views on its use have changed: if at first it was attributed to the role of a gutting weapon, now it is more of a stabbing tool with which Deinonychus held prey while the jaws did their job. Claws were also used for climbing, especially in young animals. The rod-shaped tail was strengthened by elongated outgrowths of the vertebrae and served as a balancer. It was the claws and tail that caused the name of the dinosaur, which means "balancing terrible claw".

Deinonychus was clearly trophically related to the ornithopod Tenontosaurus. This is indicated by both the frequent association of its bones and/or teeth with the alleged victim, and the isotopic composition. Apparently, young Tenontosaurs were frequent prey of Deinonychus. Other dinosaurs of comparable size also became the object of hunting, as well as lizards and mammals. For a long time it was believed that Deinonychus hunted in packs, but associations of groups of predators with the skeletons of tenontosaurs may be the consequences of violent fights over the carcass, when a lot of Deinonychus gathered at the source of meat in the dry season. At this time, scenes like the one depicted in this work became common.

Black ballpoint and gel ink pens, black colored pencil and white gouache, 2023.

Description
Two Deinonychus antirrhopus are fighting for territory. One of the individuals is knocked to the ground. Will it be able to avoid the fatal blow?

Deinonychus is one of the most historically important taxa in paleontology. Described from scattered fossils from Montana in 1969, this dinosaur forced scientists to reconsider their views on reptiles previously considered cold-blooded and slow-moving creatures. John Ostrom, describing Deinonychus, found it to have a number of key features, such as a folding wrist, bringing the animal closer to the primitive bird Archaeopteryx. The discovery of this theropod allowed to revive the hypothesis about the origin of birds from dinosaurs. In addition, the physique of Deinonychus suggested high activity, which led to a new view of dinosaurs as highly metabolic creatures, more similar to their modern descendants birds than other reptiles. This revolution in scientific perception became known as the "Dinosaur Revolution". In his wake, some paleontologists have suggested that Deinonychus and other bird-like theropods had feathers. Finds in Eastern China have confirmed this point of view.

Deinonychus reached 3.4 meters in length and weighed up to 73 kilograms. In other words, he was a medium-sized dromaeosaurid. The skull of Deinonychus was 41 centimeters long, with seventy saw-toothed teeth in the jaws. Due to the incompleteness of the material, Ostrom reconstructed the head of Deinonychus high and triangular, later a lower version became common. Based on the teeth marks, a strong Deinonychus bite has been suggested, although this association is controversial. The hand had three curved claws, and on the second toe of the foot there was a huge sickle-shaped claw. Views on its use have changed: if at first it was attributed to the role of a gutting weapon, now it is more of a stabbing tool with which Deinonychus held prey while the jaws did their job. Claws were also used for climbing, especially in young animals. The rod-shaped tail was strengthened by elongated outgrowths of the vertebrae and served as a balancer. It was the claws and tail that caused the name of the dinosaur, which means "balancing terrible claw".

Deinonychus was clearly trophically related to the ornithopod Tenontosaurus. This is indicated by both the frequent association of its bones and/or teeth with the alleged victim, and the isotopic composition. Apparently, young Tenontosaurs were frequent prey of Deinonychus. Other dinosaurs of comparable size also became the object of hunting, as well as lizards and mammals. For a long time it was believed that Deinonychus hunted in packs, but associations of groups of predators with the skeletons of tenontosaurs may be the consequences of violent fights over the carcass, when a lot of Deinonychus gathered at the source of meat in the dry season. At this time, scenes like the one depicted in this work became common.

Black ballpoint and gel ink pens, black colored pencil and white gouache, 2023.