Step Aside, T Rex... Make Some Space for Dakotaraptor!

Since it was announced that the first formation we would release was Hell Creek, Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the most popular and anticipated playable species to be featured in Dinosaur Battlegrounds. On October 30, 2015, however, a description was published of a new species that may just challenge the "Tyrant Lizard King" for that title.

This new species, named Dakotaraptor steini, was an incredibly large dromaeosaur (or "raptor"), comparable in size to the much earlier Utahraptor ostrommaysorum, with an estimated length of up to 5.5 meters (18 feet), Despite this, the proportions of Dakotaraptor more closely resembled those of much smaller dromaeosaurids, such as Deinonychus antirrhopus and Dromaeosaurus albertensis. This massive carnivore lived in the same time and place as Tyrannosaurus rex at the very end of the Mesozoic (A time known as the Maastrichtian, a stage of the Cretaceous period), making it one of the last surviving members of its lineage.

The fact that it lived alongside Tyrannosaurus, along with the fact that as a raptor it was armed with a fearsome arsenal of killer tools at its disposal, makes the Dinosaur Battlegrounds team extremely excited to feature it in the game. The idea of these two large carnivores living in the same environment raises some very interesting ecological questions that we might be able to use the game to investigate.

How might these two species have interacted, if they did so at all? Given their massive size, they would have been able to take on a variety of prey on their own. However, it may have hunted in packs, which would give it an even wider selection of victims to choose from. This may have even allowed it to directly compete with immature Tyrannosaurus rex between six and nine meters in length, or fully mature Nanotyrannus lancensis (though there is still controversy regarding the validity of this taxon; I will not take sides on the issue). Regardless, the idea of Tyrannosaurus rex fighting with packs of giant raptors outside of an inaccurate Hollywood blockbuster is a dream come true!

References:

DePalma, Robert A.. Burnham, David A, Martin, Larry D, Larson, Peter L, & Bakker, Robert T. 2015. The first giant raptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Hell Creek Formation. Paleontological Contributions (14).

Version A. Life-restoration of Dakotaraptor steini, work in progress.