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Bambiraptor

By , About.com Guide

bambiraptor

Bambiraptor (Oxford Museum of Natural History)

Name:

Bambiraptor (Greek for "Bambi thief"); pronounced BAM-bee-rap-tore

Habitat:

Plains of western North America

Historical Period:

Late Cretaceous (75 million years ago)

Size and Weight:

About 2 feet long and 5 pounds

Diet:

Meat

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Small size; relatively large brain

About Bambiraptor:

Seasoned paleontologists spend their entire careers trying to find fossils of new dinosaurs--so they must have been envious when a 14-year-old boy stumbled upon the near-complete skeleton of Bambiraptor in 1995, in Montana's Glacier National Park. Named after the Disney cartoon character, this tiny, bipedal, birdlike raptor may have been covered with feathers, and its brain was almost as big as that of modern birds (which may not seem like much of a compliment, but still made it smarter than most other dinosaurs of the period).

The most important thing about Bambiraptor, though, is how complete its skeleton is--it's been called the "Rosetta Stone" of raptors by paleontologists, who study it intently to puzzle out the evolutionary relationship of ancient dinosaurs and modern birds. (Lest you get the wrong idea, despite Bambiraptor's cute name it was every bit as vicious as bigger raptors like Velociraptor or Utahraptor.)

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