If I asked what your favorite dinosaur was, most of you would likely say "Velociraptor!", and I wouldn't blame you for that as Velociraptors are freaking bad ass. However, if your opinion of the awesomeness of said raptors came from the movie Jurassic Park, I'd have to tell you that you're a fucking idiot. Well, okay, YOU'RE not the idiot...Hollywood is. Though there's no denying that the vicious theropods from Jurassic Park were the best part of the movie, the dinosaurs which were ACTUALLY depicted were Deinonychus. "Dei-who?" you're asking. I'll explain...
You see, Velociraptors were actually the size of a modern day turkey, which is nowhere near as large as the predators presented to us in the movie. These lil guys could grow up to 6ft long (nose to tail), 1.6ft high (at the hip), and weighing up to a staggering 33lbs. All the characters in the movie would have needed was a sturdy broom and they could have simply swept those guys right into that freezer.
Deinonychus, on the other hand, could grow up to 12ft long, 5-7ft tall, and weigh anywhere from 150-200lbs. Yeah, that seems a little more terrifying of a creature than a turkey which weighs no more than a toddler. Both dinosaurs come from the genus known as dromaeosaurs, which means they do share similar characteristics. Dromaeosaurid theropods were bipedal, feathered carnivores who carried a lightly built skull complete with sharp, backwardly curved teeth, and large sickle-shaped claws on the second toe of each foot. The incredibly sharp claw was likely used to tear into or restrain struggling prey, and could probably open a Capri Sun like nobody's business.
So how else do these two terrors differ from each other? Let's start with Velociraptor. This dinosaur lived during the Late-Cretaceous, in what is now known as Mongolia, approximately 75-71 million years ago. There are more than a dozen described fossils of this "Speedy Thief", which is more than any other dromaesaur. They're best identified by their skulls, which grew to nearly 10in long, and had a unique up-curved concave on upper surface and convex on the lower. Their jaws were lined with 26-28 widely-spaced teeth, each more strongly serrated on the back edge. Though these guys were feathered, they were likely not capable of flight due to their size and shortened forelimbs. A plight fellow theropod T-Rex knows all too well.
Deinonychus, while not only being much larger than his cousin, also achieved celebrity status without the help of Steven Spielberg. Deinonychus ("Terrible Claw") lived in the forests of what is now Montana, Wyoming, and Oklahoma during the Cretaceous Period about 115-100 million years ago. They were pack hunters, unlike their previously mentioned relatives, which allowed them to take down much larger dinosaurs as a group so no one was sitting alone at the kiddie's table during Sunday brunch. Their skulls could grow to a length of 16 inches, and had extremely powerful jaws, each equipped with 60-70 curved, blade-like teeth. These fellas weren't nearly as agile as other theropods, and were certainly not as quick on their feet as Jurassic Park made them seem. They were also complete morons, being no smarter than an infant. So, unless you know of any babies who excel at opening doors, there is no way Deinonychus would have ever been able to break into any kitchens to scrounge for late-night snacks.
What Deinonychus DID do was revolutionize the way scientists thought about dinosaurs. You see, some scientists discovered fossils which showed a Deinonychus nesting on top of its eggs. Why was this finding so important, you ask? It shows that Deinonychus probably used body heat transfer as a means of incubating its eggs, much like modern birds do today. This finding led to the idea that dinosaurs were not, in fact, cold-blooded creatures, but were probably mostly warm-blooded. This also led scientists to start comparing bone structure between dinosaurs and birds, which resulted in finding tons of common characteristics between the two. So, even though Velociraptor has all the fame and a much more bad ass of a name, Deinonychus will forever be the one who got us to never look at chickens the same way again.
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