Deinonychus is a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid dinosaur that existed during the Early Cretaceous. It contains only a single species, D. antirrhopus. Fossils of the 3.4 meter (11 ft) long dinosaur have been recovered from the U.S. states of Montana, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, though teeth attributed to Deinonychus have been found as far east as Maryland. A 1960s study of Deinonychus revolutionized the way scientists thought about dinosaurs, leading to the "Dinosaur renaissance" and igniting a debate on whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded. Where the popular conception of dinosaurs had been one of plodding reptilian giants, the study's description of Deinonychus' small body, sleek horizontal posture, ratite-like spine and enlarged raptorial claws suggested an active, agile predator. As in other dromaeosaurids, the tail vertebrae have a series of ossified tendons and super-elongated bone processes. These features would seem to make the tail into a stiff counterbalance, but fossils of closely-related species suggest that, in life, the tail could swish to the sides with a high degree of flexibility. Deinonychus teeth and other remains have been found closely associated with those of the ornithopod Tenontosaurus, implying that it was hunted or at least scavenged upon by Deinonychus.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinonychus

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1167:

A 1,600-man force of the Holy Roman Empire led by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel defeated a 10,000-man Papal States army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Porzio

1453:

Constantinople fell to the besieging Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople

1911:

English dramatist W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan dies while saving a young woman from drowning in his lake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._S._Gilbert

1913:

The Rite of Spring, a ballet with music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, was first performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring

1953:

New Zealand explorer Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary

1985:

A wall at Brussels' Heysel Stadium collapsed under the pressure of football fans escaping a riot before the European Cup Final between England's Liverpool F.C. and Italy's Juventus F.C., killing 39 people and injuring over 600 others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heysel_Stadium_disaster

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

deathwatch (n): 1. Any of various insects which give off a ticking noise, especially the deathwatch beetle, Xestobium rufovillosum. 2. A vigil held over a dying person http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deathwatch

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The most unfathomable schools and sages have never attained to the gravity which dwells in the eyes of a baby of three months old. It is the gravity of astonishment at the universe, and astonishment at the universe is not mysticism, but a transcendent common-sense. The fascination of children lies in this: that with each of them all things are remade, and the universe is put again upon its trial. --G. K. Chesterton http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton