CarnivoreVelociraptor was probably one of the more intelligent dinosaurs, because it had a large brain proportionate to its body size. It was formidable on land and, as the name suggests, almost certainly covered ground quickly. Moving upright on two legs, they may have been able to reach speeds of 24 miles per hour (39 kilometers per hour).he first Velociraptor fossils - a skull and the fearsome curved claw. These drawings were published by Henry Fairfield Osborn in his 1924 description of the new dinosaur. Image courtesy of the AMNH digital library.Henry Fairfield Osborn, AMNH president, published a description of the finds in 1924, but he assumed the large, curved claw was from the hand.

We now know it belonged to the second toe of Velociraptor's foot. It was a predator's perfect weapon and could grow to more than 6.5 centimetres around its outer edge.

'People have traditionally thought of the foot claw as a disembowelling tool,' says David, 'but it wouldn't really work like that.

'Palaeontologists built a mechanical model of the claw for BBC documentary The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs and they couldn't get it to disembowel things.'

Instead, research suggests that the razor-sharp claw was used for stabbing, not slashing, and it was probably used as a hook to prevent prey from escaping.