Dinosaurs · Small theropod

Deinonychus

Say it dye-NON-ick-us. The name means ‘terrible claw’.

Deinonychus beside a person 1.75 m tall. Ticks mark every metre.Body shape drawn for this site, showing the general build of small theropods

Length: 3.4 m
Weight: 100 kg
Diet: Meat-eaterplant-eating dinosaurs and other vertebrates, such as mammals
Walked: On 2 legs
When: Early Cretaceous115 to 108 million years ago
Fossils found in: USA
Named by: Ostrom (1969)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Saurischia › Theropoda › Dromaeosauridae

Where Deinonychus sits in the age of dinosaurs.Periods from the ICS chart; dinosaur dates from the Natural History Museum

Small theropods. Small two-legged dinosaurs, many feathered, the group that includes birds. See all 60

Lived at the same time

Acrocanthosaurus · same country
Sauropelta · same country
Tenontosaurus · same country
Zephyrosaurus · same country
Silvisaurus · same country
Nodosaurus · same country
Aquilops · same country
Archaeoceratops

Other small theropods

Microraptor Early Cretaceous
Harpymimus Early Cretaceous
Protarchaeopteryx Early Cretaceous
Sinornithosaurus Early Cretaceous
Caudipteryx Early Cretaceous
Sinocalliopteryx Early Cretaceous
Sinosauropteryx Early Cretaceous
Shanag Early Cretaceous

Source: Deinonychus in the Natural History Museum Dino Directory, read 12 November 2026. Sizes are the museum's estimates for a typical adult. "Lived at the same time" lists dinosaurs whose dates overlap, which does not always mean they met.