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Anomaly Research Centre
« "Raptors varied in size from less then a metre to over seven or eight metres, but regardless of stature, these predators pack a punch. Agile and athletic, the carnivorous dinosaurs were most likely pack hunters who stalked their prey and killed with razor-sharp claws. The term 'raptor' loosely refers to a group of dinosaurs; the ones you see in Episode 101 of Primeval: New World are actually based on the Late-Cretaceous dromaeosaur." »
Primeval: New World official description.[1]


Utahraptor was the largest known member of the theropod dinosaur family Dromaeosauridae, and lived from the Early to Middle Cretaceous period.

Characteristics[]

Utahraptors were a large dromaeosaurid species, notable by their large size of approximately six - seven feet in height and eight feet in length, and their down-coated green skin. Utahraptors were deadly and vicious predators, able to quickly and brutally kill their prey. They preferred to stalk and follow their prey unseen under the cover of vegetation and/or darkness, before emerging from their cover and swiftly closing in for the kill. (The New World)

Incursions and encounters[]

The New World[]

NW1x1 UtahraptorInCretaceous2

A Utahraptor in its Cretaceous home, about to attack Evan and Dylan. (The New World)

Two Utahraptors came through an Anomaly to Stanley Park in the present, and stalked the Park. One raptor chased Evan Cross and Dylan Weir back through the Anomaly into the Cretaceous, and Evan and Dylan then returned through the Anomaly to the present. The Anomaly then closed behind Dylan and Evan before the Utahraptor could follow them through back to the present; leaving that raptor back in the Cretaceous, and the second raptor marooned in the present.

The remaining Utahraptor subsequently travelled into Vancouver and entered a SkyTrain service tunnel, where it brutally killed a local homeless person. When Tony Drake entered the service tunnel in search of the raptor, the creature followed and stalked Drake, and eventually killed him as well. Some time later, the Utahraptor returned to Stanley Park and attacked Evan and Trevor Molison at a Pteranodon nest. The Pteranodon and the Utahraptor then fought, and the Pteranodon managed to fatally injure the raptor before the raptor killed it, and the Utahraptor then itself died from its injury.

The Utahraptor and the Pteranodon were subsequently taken back to Cross Photonics, and frozen in the building's freezer room until the team had a chance to return their bodies to their own time.

Other references[]

Episode 1.4[]

Helen Cutter mentioned that she at some point met a Utahraptor in the Jurassic on her travels through the Anomalies (although Utahraptor was actually native to the Cretaceous).

Real life[]

Utahraptor (name meaning "Utah's predator") was a theropod dinosaur genus which was estimated, from fossil specimens, to have lived during the Early Cretaceous period. It was estimated to have grown to a maximum length of seven metres (23 feet), and (like other dromaeosaurids) had a large curved claw on each second toe. Utahraptor specimens have been found in parts of east-central Utah such as Grand County.

Trivia[]

  • Some sources state that the unidentified Raptor species commonly seen in the original Primeval programme was Utahraptor. However, the Raptors of the unidentified species are the wrong size to be Utahraptors, and they look different from the Utahraptors in Primeval: New World.
  • Helen Cutter mentioned in Episode 1.4 that she met a Utahraptor in the Jurassic, but Utahraptor lived in the Cretaceous. Some fans believe that the Utahraptor Helen met had come through an Anomaly from the Cretaceous to the Jurassic.
  • After the Utahraptor in The New World was defeated by the Pteranodon and frozen at Cross Photonics, it was initially uncertain whether the raptor was killed or unconscious after the fight with the Pteranodon; however, it was implied by Mac and Evan's dialogue in Fear of Flying that the Utahraptor had indeed died in the fight.
  • Unlike the other theropods in the show Primeval: New World, the Utahraptor did not have pronated wrists.

Errors[]

Utahraptor

A Utahraptor in a SkyTrain service tunnel about to attack Tony Drake. (The New World)

  • The Utahraptors depicted in Primeval: New World were slightly smaller than the real life ones would have been. It has been suggested by a few fans that the raptors seen in New World may have been juveniles.
  • The Utahraptors in New World had an incredibly thin layer of primitive "feathers". However, it has been theorised that Utahraptor probably would have been cloaked from head to toe by the feathers and would have had small "wings." Though no feathers have been found in association with Utahraptor fossils, it is very likely that it had feathers similar to those of other dromeosaurids.
  • The Primeval: New World website states that Utahraptor lived in the Late Cretaceous. In reality, it lived in the Early Cretaceous.

References[]

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