- Type of dinosaur:
- small theropod
- Diet:
- carnivorous
- Teeth:
- lots of sharp, pointed teeth
- Food:
- other animals
- How it moved:
- on 2 legs
- When it lived:
- Late Cretaceous, 84-71 million years ago
- Found in:
- France,
- Spain
Pyroraptor was a small, meat-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now France and Spain. It got its name, which means 'fire thief', because its remains were first found after a destructive forest fire in Provence, France.
This dinosaur is known from very few fossils. Only a handful of small bones and teeth have been unearthed. So full-body reconstructions of Pyroraptor are largely guesswork.
Scientists think Pyroraptor was probably a dromaeosaur, and that it may have been similar to Velociraptor. But with so few fossils it's hard to tell how closely they were related.
Dromaeosaurs are rare in Europe. Another, called Variraptor, was found in the same place in France as Pyroraptor. Some experts think it might be the same dinosaur.
Could Pyroraptor swim?
The film Jurassic World: Dominion shows Pyroraptor diving underwater to attack the main characters.
It's very hard to say if any dinosaur could swim in real life, as swimming isn't usually an activity that shows in fossil evidence.
Most modern animals can swim, with some exceptions such as tortoises. So most experts assume that dinosaurs - especially small- to medium-sized ones like Pyroraptor - could at least doggy paddle. But nobody knows if Pyroraptor could really dive under the surface and swim for long periods.
When did Pyroraptor go extinct?
Pyroraptor fossils were discovered in rocks from the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous Period. That means it must have been alive 84 to 71 million years ago.
Scientists aren't sure exactly when Pyroraptor went extinct, but it probably wasn't around by the time of the meteorite impact that played a major role in wiping out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
How big was Pyroraptor?
It's very difficult to work out how large the whole dinosaur would have been because so few Pyroraptor fossils have been found.
It might have been around the same size as Velociraptor, or smaller. We might get a better idea in the future if more remains are discovered. For now, we know that both dinosaurs had a similar-sized curved toe claw, measuring almost seven centimetres along the outer edge.
Taxonomic details
- Taxonomy:
- Dinosauria, Saurischia, Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae
- Named by:
- Allain and Taquet (2000)
- Type species:
- olympius
