What is Balaur?
{{italic title}} {{Taxobox |name = <big>''Balaur''</big> |fossil_range = <br/>[[Upper Cretaceous]], 70 mya |image = Balaur_bondoc.jpg |image_width = 250px |image_caption = ''Balaur bondoc'' displaying its double <br/>sickle claws in a kicking action |regnum = [[Animal]]ia |phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] |classis = [[Reptile|Sauropsida]] |superordo = [[Dinosauria]] |ordo = [[Saurischia]] |subordo = [[Theropoda]] |infraordo = [[Deinonychosauria]] |superfamilia = '''Dromaeosauroidae''' |familia = [[Dromaeosauridae]] |genus = '''''Balaur'''''}} [[File:Balaur bondoc 1.jpg|thumb|250px|the [[holotype]] specimen, showing the double sickle claws very clearly]] '''''Balaur''''' is a [[genus]] of [[dromaeosaurid]] [[theropod]] [[dinosaur]] that lived in southern [[Europe]] during the [[Upper Cretaceous]], about 70 million years ago. The specimen is unique: unlike most other dromaeosaurs, it had ''two'' sickle claws on each foot, not just one.<ref name=PNAS/> It had a reduced and presumably nonfunctional third finger, consisting of only one rudimentary phalanx.<ref name=PNAS /><ref name=BBC>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11137905 |title=BBC News – Beefy dino sported fearsome claws |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date= 2010-08-31|access-date=2010-09-01}}</ref> The specimen was discovered in 2010. ''Balaur'' lived on a large prehistoric island called [[Hateg Island]]. Seventy million years ago, sea levels were much higher than they are today. Europe was an [[archipelago]] of islands.<ref name=Magy>{{cite journal|doi=10.1073/pnas.1000781107|author=Stein K. |display-authors = etal |year=2010|title=Small body size and extreme cortical bone remodeling indicate phyletic dwarfism in ''Magyarosaurus dacus'' (Sauropoda: Titanosauria)|journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci USA|volume=107|issue=20|pages=9258–9263|pmid=20435913|pmc=2889090|doi-access=free }}</ref> Possibly because it was relatively isolated from other dinosaurs, ''Balaur'' developed unique features. It was a small {{convert|1.8|-|2.1|m|ft}}.<ref name=PNA