Deinonychus Facts for Kids
die-NON-ih-kus · its name means “terrible claw”
A quick hunter with a big curved claw on each foot.
Deinonychus was a fast dinosaur. It had a big curved claw on each foot. It lived in North America.
Deinonychus walked on two legs and held a big, curved claw up off the ground on each foot. That claw gave it its name, terrible claw. It had a long, stiff tail for balance, strong arms with three clawed fingers and a head full of sharp teeth. Scientists think it had feathers, as its close cousins did.
When scientists first studied Deinonychus, it changed how they thought about dinosaurs. Its light build, stiff tail and big claws looked like those of a quick, busy animal, not a slow, clumsy one, and its body looked a lot like a bird's. That made many scientists decide that birds came from dinosaurs like it. Scientists still argue about whether it hunted in groups.
Every dinosaur number is scientists’ best guess from bones, so each one says where it came from.
How big was Deinonychus?
Deinonychus in numbers
| Length (nose to tail) | 9.8 ft3 m1estimate |
|---|---|
| Height at the hips | no checked number yet |
| Weight | 174 lb79 kg1maximum |
| When it lived | 100 million years ago100 million years ago1NPS says only that it lived during the Cretaceous |
| What it ate | other dinosaurs and smaller animals |
| Fossils found in | western North America, including Montana and Wyoming |
| What kind | a theropod: a two-legged dinosaur, the group birds came from |
Wow!
- Its name means terrible claw.
- It held its big toe claw up off the ground.
- It helped scientists see that some dinosaurs were quick and active.
🦴 Deinonychus’s bones
Books about Deinonychus, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about Deinonychus for free.
Where was the land back then?
The continents were in different places when Deinonychus lived, 100 million years ago. Open Planet Earth, pick Drifting continents, and slide back in time to see where the land was.
Its neighbours in time
Where these numbers come from
- Bureau of Land Management, Assessment of Fossil Management on Federal and Indian Lands (glossary), checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Deinonychus (Q14405), checked 30 October 2026.
To read more: the Natural History Museum’s Dino Directory (see also, not copied).