Anchiornis vs Deinonychus

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

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Side-by-Side Comparison

Property Anchiornis Deinonychus
Scientific Name Anchiornis huxleyi Deinonychus antirrhopus
Classification Theropoda Dromaeosauridae
Period Jurassic Late Cretaceous Early
Diet Insectivore Carnivore
Length 0.4 m 3.4 m
Height 0.2 m 0.9 m
Weight 0 kg 73 kg
Discovery Year 2009 1969
Discovery Location Tiaojishan Formation, China Montana, USA
Named By Xu Xing et al. John Ostrom
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Size Comparison

Anchiornis 0.4 m

smaller than a human child

Deinonychus 3.4 m

about the size of a human adult

Weight Comparison

Anchiornis 0 kg

lighter than a human adult

Deinonychus 73 kg

about 1 adult humans

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Timeline Comparison

Anchiornis
161.5 Mya Jurassic Late (Mesozoic) 145.0 Mya
Deinonychus
145.0 Mya Cretaceous Early (Mesozoic) 100.5 Mya
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Diet Comparison

Anchiornis

Insectivore

Anchiornis primarily fed on insects and other small invertebrates.

Deinonychus

Carnivore

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

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Classification Comparison

Anchiornis

Clade: Saurischia

Group: Theropoda

(Beast feet)

Deinonychus

Clade: Theropoda

Group: Dromaeosauridae

(Raptors)

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Did You Know?

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Deinonychus was about 8.5x longer than Anchiornis.

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Deinonychus weighed roughly 730x more than Anchiornis.

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Anchiornis was a insectivore while Deinonychus was a carnivore.

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Anchiornis lived during the Jurassic Late while Deinonychus lived during the Cretaceous Early, separated by roughly 0 million years.

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Deinonychus was discovered 40 years earlier, in 1969.

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Anchiornis belonged to Theropoda while Deinonychus belonged to Dromaeosauridae.

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Compare With Other Dinosaurs

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