Bambiraptor
Name:
Bambiraptor
(Bambi thief).
Phonetic: Bam-bee-rap-tor.
Named By: David Burnham, Kraig Derstler, Phil
Currie, Robert Bakker, Zhou Zhonge & John Ostrom -
2000.
Synonyms: Bambiraptor feinbergorum.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Dromaeosauridae, Eudromaeosauria,
Saurornitholestinae.
Species: B. feinbergi (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 90 centimetres long for the holotype, but
since this is a juvenile, adults would have been larger at somewhere
over a meter.
Known locations: USA, Montana, Glacier National
Park - Two Medicine Foundation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Almost complete specimen of a
juvenile dinosaur. Additional remains have since been attributed to
the genus.
Named
after the title character in the 1942 film Bambi,
Bambiraptor was
a small dromaeosaurid
dinosaur that has caused a lot of excitement in the
science of palaeontology. Discovered by a fourteen year-old Wes
Linster in 1993, the Bambiraptor holotype is of
an exceptionally
well preserved individual that is estimated to be around a ninety-five
per cent complete dinosaur. In addition to this the bones display
very little distortion (fossils often become distorted due to the
immense pressures of layers of rock lying on top of them, especially
in lightly built animals) so it has been relatively easy for
palaeontologists to reconstruct this dinosaur when compared to what
they usually have to work with. This has led to Bambiraptor
being
popularly dubbed a ‘Rosetta stone’ after the discovery of the stone
that allowed for the decryption of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but
in Bambiraptor the reference is more to it
revealing answers about the
dromaeosaur dinosaurs.
The
holotype fossil for which Bambiraptor is named is
of a juvenile
dinosaur, something that has led to some controversy over the facts
and actual validity of this genus. Firstly is that Bambiraptor
is
often credited at being ninety centimetres long, but because the most
complete specimen is only that of a juvenile, it is a certainty that
adult Bambiraptor would have been bigger than
this. In 2010
Gregory S. Paul estimated the length of an adult Bambiraptor
at a
larger one hundred and thirty centimetres long, which if accurate
would still make Bambiraptor small, but nearer
the size of other
small dromaeosaurs.
Another
misconception is that of intelligence, since Bambiraptor
is thought
to have had a large brain in relation to the size of its body. The
size of the brain in proportion to the size of the body is termed
Encephalization quotient, or EQ for short and basically works upon
the principal that the larger the brain is in relation to the body the
more intelligent the animal. This is why dinosaurs with a high EQ
level like Troodon
are often credited as being the most intelligent
dinosaurs, but the theory is a controversial one. The main problem
here is that the method for determining EQ does not fully take into
account the kind of brain tissues involved, which is why an animal
with a brain double the size of another animal with a same sized body
can be seen on paper to have double the intelligence, even if the
extra size was only attributed to something like extra brain cells for
a greater sense of smell. The animal with a smaller brain however
might have a larger cognitive centre (memory, problem solving,
etc.) and actually be more intelligent than the larger brained
animal but with less capable senses (smell, vision, etc.).
Additionally you have to remember that the Bambiraptor
holotype is of
a juvenile, and juvenile creatures usually do have proportionately
larger brains than adults because even though their bodies are still
growing, they still need to be smart enough to process their
surroundings. As such determining EQ especially from a juvenile can
give a skewed interpretation of an animal’s actual intelligence.
Another
thing that needs to be considered is that animals, and particularly
some dinosaurs have been seen to make marked morphological changes as
they reach different ages (a good example being the leg proportions
between juvenile and adult tyrannosaurs), and being described from
a juvenile specimen, some palaeontologists have considered the
possibility of Bambiraptor actually being a
juvenile of a previously
described genus. Here some have pointed to the similar
Saurornitholestes
as the possible adult form of Bambiraptor,
however
most other palaeontologists continue to support the idea that
Bambiraptor should be treated as a distinct genus.
One
thing that is likely for Bambiraptor whether it was
a juvenile or adult
is the presence of feathers. Although not confirmed to be present in
the holotype or any other remains so far attributed to the genus,
many of the other dinosaurs that Bambiraptor is
related to be known to
have had them. Additionally some that have not had feathers preserved
do also sometimes have the attachments for even better developed
feathers. If indeed present upon the body, then Bambiraptor
probably would have had a covering of primitive downy feathers that
served as insulation.
Because
of its small size, Bambiraptor is thought to have
been a hunter of
small mammals and reptiles like lizards which would have been very
common small prey during the Late Cretaceous. The arms of Bambiraptor
are thought to have been very dexterous as well as fingers that were
semi opposable. What this means is that Bambiraptor
could have
possibly held small prey in its arms and actually lift them up to its
mouth for easier feeding. It’s also possible that this greater
dexterity may have also been for climbing. Bambiraptor
however would
have faced competition from slightly larger related dinosaurs such as
the aforementioned Troodon and Saurornitholestes
as well as
Dromaeosaurus.
Other threats could have also been the tyrannosaurs
Daspletosaurus
and Gorgosaurus,
particularly juveniles of these two
genera which would have been a lot faster and more agile than adults.
Bambiraptor
has sometimes been credited with two species names when in fact it
currently only has one. The species name B. feinbergi
is in
honour of both Michael and Ann Feinberg who bought the holotype from a
fossil dealer and then donated it to science. However because
feinbergi is in the singular vernacular, a
pluralised version of
feinbergorum was later proposed. This was used by
a few people at
first, but under naming guidelines set out by the ICZN (the body
that governs the naming of animals) the first species name is not
only valid but still has priority over the new version. For this
reason Bambiraptor feinbergorum is now treated as a
synonym to
Bambiraptor feinbergi.
Further reading
- Remarkable new birdlike dinosaur (Theropoda: Maniraptora) from the
Upper Cretaceous of Montana. - University of Kansas Paleontological
Contributions 13: 1-14. - D. A. Burnham, K. L. Derstler, P. J. Currie,
R. T. Bakker, Z. Zhou & J. H. Ostrom - 2000.
- New Information on Bambiraptor feinbergi from the
Late Cretaceous of
Montana. - D. A. Burnham - 2004.
- Comparison of forelimb function between Deinonychus
and Bambiraptor
(Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae). - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology,
26(4): 897-906. - P. Senter - 2006.
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