Footprints in China suggest new megaraptor that roamed with dinosaurs

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The Velociraptors of “Jurassic Park” were terrifyingly large, merciless killing machines.

The stuff of nightmares, yes. The stuff of reality? Not so much.

Scientific research has long held the real Velociraptors were a far cry from the predatory beasts depicted in the film series, growing to be not much larger than wolves and covered in not-so-scary feathers.

But a team of paleontologists said they may have identified a close cousin to the Velociraptor, a so-called megaraptor, that is much closer to the size of the dinos depicted in the films. In fact, the international team of researchers estimated that the fossilized footprints found in China were left by a dinosaur that would be among the largest raptors ever discovered.

While it may dwarf the raptors of “Jurassic Park,” researcher Anthony Romilio said the creature has some key differences from its fictional counterpart.

“When people think of raptor dinosaurs, they most likely think of those in the ‘Jurassic Park’ movies – human-sized, muscly, aggressive hunters,” Romilio, a paleontologist at the University of Queensland, said in a statement. “But these tracks were left by a much slimmer and brainier group in the Velociraptor family.”

Preserved footprints found in 2020 in China

The tracks are among more than 240 footprints discovered in 2020 in an area of southeastern China where dinosaurs roamed tens of millions of years ago, the researchers said.

The researchers found a set of five tracks that were more than 13 inches long and were immediately recognizable because the footprints featured just two toes – a characteristic unique to raptors.

“We found this track type is distinct in shape, making it quite unique,” Romilio said.

The team determined the footprints were likely made by a relative of the velociraptor, which they’ve named Fujianipus yingliangi as a nod to the Fujian province where the tracks were found.

Based on the size of the tracks, the creature was estimated to have been nearly six feet tall and 15 feet long. That’s about two to three times the total length of the velociraptor, making it among the largest of the known raptors.

Megaraptor roamed during Cretaceous period

Finding fossilized bones would provide researchers with more insight into what exactly the animal looked like and just how imposing it was.

But the team said they gleaned enough to determine that the megaraptor was a troodontid, a dinosaur family with legs nearly long as long as six feet, far exceeding other known raptor sizes. The birdlike raptors existed during the Cretaceous period about 145 to 66 million years ago, a few million years more recent than the Jurassic period.

Their size makes the Fujianipus a relative outlier among its raptor brethren that mostly remained small.

“It just goes to show the incredible size range among raptor dinosaurs,” Romilio said, “highlighting their adaptability and ecological diversity.”

The research is published in the journal iScience.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com