Introduction About Raptors Baby Raptor Discovery Yields Missing Link By David A. Burnham An incredible new discovery of a small baby raptor shows uncanny similarity between birds and dinosaurs. The skeleton is less than 3 feet long and has a 5 inch long, very brainy skull with carnivorous teeth. There are sickle-shaped killing claws on the hands and feet, a long stiff tail for balance as well as a wishbone similar to modern birds. Itwas a lightly built animal with tremendous agility—the large claws on the feet were retractable and the hand claws resided on arms that were spring-loaded like stilettos. In life, the animal would have weighed about seven (7) pounds, may have been covered by feathers and possessed of superior intelligence as compared to its contemporaries. It is unquestionably the most bird-like among all dinosaurs which have become commonly known as “raptors”. Since the new skeleton is so remarkably well-preserved, it reveals certain features which unravel the relationships between dinosaurs and birds. It also demonstrates how these little beasts, with ferocious predatory movements, were related to fully flighted birds. Although it is yet unknown whether this raptor actually flew or not apparently it had already evolved the mechanisms required for flight. The skeleton was discovered in 72 million year old rocks in Montana in a small site among abundant remains of other dinosaurs—all apparently in some sort of mass grave. A schoolboy, Wes Linster, overturned a rock and saw a jaw bone with sharp, tiny black teeth imbedded on the other side. His family excavated the small fossil from their quarry brought it home and nicknamed it “Bambi”. The fragile nature of the remains of the new fossil warranted a specialist in preparation. Dave Burnham was contacted and examined the specimen. He identified the furcula (wishbone) and saw “Bambi” as a major piece of evidence in the hotly contested debate on whether or not birds evolved from dinosaurs. Conservation techniques involving thousands of hours of careful microscopic cleaning and stabilization revealed a skeleton similar to the ancient, fossil bird named Archaeopteryx. As such, it would be an important piece in the mosaic of organic evolution and needed to be placed, in perpetuity, in a museum. Alerted to this new bird-like dinosaur, Dr. Martin Shugar (Graves Museum’s Florida Institute of Paleontology) acted quickly to secure the specimen for his museum. Through the help of a “White Knight” who literally saved the day, the funding needed for this project was established. They assembled a dream team of experts to research this wonderful discovery. The results showed the avian-like features of the small skeleton established it as a missing link between dinosaurs and birds. It was named Bambiraptor in honor of Michael and Ann Feinberg who had ensured these fossil remains would be part of our natural history and rightfully placed in public domain for the world to enjoy and study. ©1998 Fossilworks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Raptors Raptors (in the scientific family called "dromaeosaurs" which are"sickle-clawed" small theropods with tails enhanced with bony rods plus other specialized features) are presented here in the historical order in which they were collected. We can compare to these specimens since they belong to the same group of dinosaurs as Bambiraptor. Information is arranged accordingly: Etymology (translation of the names), Geologic Formation (rock unit) and Geologic Age (in millions of years), Geographic Locality, Discovery date, Scientific reference (author, date published) and Description (completeness, size, characteristics). Dromaeosaurus albertensis or "swift-running lizard from Alberta"–Judith River Formation, 72 mya, Alberta, Canada. Discovered in 1914, the specimen consists of a good skull and partial foot, but no tail (Matthew & Brown, 1922). Current research shows significant differences in the skull and therefore may not be as closely related as previously thought (Currie, 1995). Velociraptor mongoliensis or “high-speed plunderer from Mongolia”–Djadokhta Formation, Late Cretaceous, 80 mya, Gobi Desert, Mongolia, found in 1923. This dinosaur epitomizes the ‘sickle claws’ as a group and was the notorious dinosaurian villain in Jurassic Park. Very well known based on multiple good skeletons (Osborn, 1924) including the famous “locked in combat” specimen. Although geologically older, some workers lump most raptors within this genus (Paul, 1988). Deinonychus antirrhopus or “terrible claw” ?Named for the sickle claw on its foot, this dinosaur forms the basic stock for this group. –Cloverly Formation, Early Cretaceous, 93 mya, Montana, 1964. Much older, well known (Ostrom, 1969), very complete, but the larger size and certain anatomical differences preclude the assignment to this raptor. Saurornitholestes langstoni or “Langston's lizard-bird-robber”–Judith River Formation, Late Cretaceous, 72 mya, Alberta, Canada, 1974. More complete remains are currently being described. Original specimen less than 6% of a skeleton (Sues, 1978). More complete material has recently been discovered but has not yet been confirmed. Utahraptor ostrommaysi or “Utah‘s thief”–named in honor of John Ostrom and Mays, Cedar Mountain Formation, 125 mya, eastern Utah (Kirkland et al, 1993). Although the largest sickle claw dinosaur in this group, it may not be as closely related due to differences in some skeletal features and the fact that it is poorly known since it is based on disarticulated skeletons from two different sites. Although fragmentary, it is the largest in this group comparable to the raptors in Jurassic Park. Collected from 1975 to 1992. Bambiraptor feinbergi or “Feinberg‘s baby raptor”–Two Medicine Formation, 75 mya, Montana, 1993. A virtually perfect specimen (Burnham et al, 2000) remarkably similar to Archaeopteryx, especially the furcula (wishbone) and semi-lunate (wrist) bone. Largest brain-size of any known dinosaur. Sinornithosaurus milleni …of the new millenium –Yixian Formation, 90 mya, Liaoning, China, 1998. Very much older but very well preserved with filamentous body covering (Xu et al, 1999). Small, “Bambi-sized”raptor with long arms, furcula (wishbone) and other bird-like anatomical details. Questionable forms include: Adasaurus Hulsanpes Santanaraptor or “raptor from Santana”–Santana Formation, Brazil, (1999?) rear-end of a skeleton Achillobator giganticus–Mongolia, (1999) ©1998 Fossilworks, Inc. All Rights Reserved.