Location : North America

Saurornitholestes was a small but fierce hunter and a member of the raptor family of dinosaurs that includes the famous Velociraptor. In fact, some scientists think that Saurornitholestes may actually be a Velociraptor  Unfortunately, not enough of its skeleton has been found to make any absolute decisions.

The partial skull fragments of Saurornitholestes seem to indicate an extremely close relationship with Velociraptor, but its body remains, which are very incomplete, more closely resemble Deinonychus. An interesting discovery was made of a Saurornitholestes tooth imbedded in a pterosaur bone. The pterosaur was a fairly large individual so scientists believe the smaller dinosaur most likely scavenged the carcass. At the time of its discovery, this was the first reported fossil bone discovered with a predator's tooth actually preserved in it.