Giant Raptor Fossil Discovered in South Dakota

An artist's rendering of Dakotaraptor steini. (Credit: Emily Willoughby) Scientists have discovered the remains of one of the largest raptors known to man in the fossil graveyards of North America. A research team led by Robert DePalma, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Palm Beach Museum of Natural History, discovered the partial skeleton in the Late Cretaceous (66 million years old) Hell Creek Formation of Harding County, South Dakota. They’ve named the raptor Dakotaraptor steini, and it is the second recently named raptor from Hell Creek. Known from a partial skeleton, it represents one of the largest known dromaeosaurids, the scientific name for what are popularly known as ‘raptors’, and close relatives of the first birds.