Deinonychus vs Herrerasaurus

A detailed side-by-side comparison of Deinonychus and Herrerasaurus, covering size, diet, classification, geologic period, and discovery history.

Side-by-Side Comparison

الخاصية Deinonychus Herrerasaurus
الاسم العلمي Deinonychus antirrhopus Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis
التصنيف Dromaeosauridae Saurischia
الحقبة Cretaceous Early Triassic Late
النظام الغذائي Carnivore Carnivore
الطول 3.4 m 6.0 m
Height 0.9 m 1.5 m
الوزن 73 kg 350 kg
سنة الاكتشاف 1969 1963
موقع الاكتشاف Montana, USA Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina
سُمي بواسطة John Ostrom Osvaldo Reig

Size Comparison

Deinonychus 3.4 m

about the size of a human adult

Herrerasaurus 6.0 m

roughly the length of a large SUV

Weight Comparison

Deinonychus 73 kg

about 1 adult humans

Herrerasaurus 350 kg

about 5 adult humans

Timeline Comparison

Deinonychus
145,0 Mya Cretaceous Early (Mesozoic) 100,5 Mya
Herrerasaurus
237,0 Mya Triassic Late (Mesozoic) 201,4 Mya

Diet Comparison

Deinonychus

Carnivore

Deinonychus was a meat-eating predator, hunting other animals for food.

Herrerasaurus

Carnivore

Herrerasaurus was a meat-eating predator, hunting other animals for food.

Classification Comparison

Deinonychus

Clade: Theropoda

Group: Dromaeosauridae

(Raptors)

Herrerasaurus

Group: Saurischia

(Lizard-hipped dinosaurs)

Did You Know?

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Herrerasaurus was about 1.8x longer than Deinonychus.

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Herrerasaurus weighed roughly 5x more than Deinonychus.

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Both Deinonychus and Herrerasaurus were carnivores.

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Deinonychus lived during the Cretaceous Early while Herrerasaurus lived during the Triassic Late, separated by roughly 136 million years.

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Herrerasaurus was discovered 6 years earlier, in 1963.

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Deinonychus belonged to Dromaeosauridae while Herrerasaurus belonged to Saurischia.

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