Balaur bondoc, as it’s called, is the first predatory dinosaur found to live in Europe during the final 60 million years of the Age of Dinosaurs. Although short and stocky, it still had large, deadly, meat-slashing claws on its toes.
At this point in history, Europe was almost entirely covered in water. Romania was an island, so the dinosaur species there evolved in relative isolation, and in general, smaller in stature than their mainland counterparts. Because of this, Balaur hunted differently than its taller raptor relatives—it was “more of a kick boxer than a sprinter.” Its remains took 10 years to correctly piece together. [Wired]
