Veldraks (genus Torvoraptor) are the dominant medium-sized predators of Europe, represented by three species. 

    Torvoraptors are mostly solitary or pair-hunting predators. They range from 4 to 7 meter long, Torvoraptor robustus being the largest species. Torvoraptors are most abundant in the temperate zone, but some species also live in Arabia and Northest parts of Africa. Some species are fast runners while others specialize in stalking and raw force.

    The matadrak is a veldrak of southern Europe, and also found in the Middle East and northermost Africa. Its relatives are also found in India. Matadrak is more lightly built than veldrak, though both reach the same length of 4 meters. However only matadrak females are this large, the males are usually 3 m long, or only slightly larger. The females also have colour patterns clearly different from the males.

    The differences of the sexes however go further than that. While the female is a solitary hunter, matadrak males live in groups consisting usually from three to five males. The territories of females often overlap with the male's. There are rarely any violent disputes between males and females, but meetings of members of the same sex may lead into fights, even to death.

    During the mating season the male groups compete for the attention of females. When a female matadrak chooses a group of males, the internal hierarchy of the group dictates which male gets to mate first (they do indeed all mate with the female). The female then stays with the male group (which protect their female from other males) until it is ready to lay it's eggs. When the eggs have been laid, the female leaves, and the males take up the task of brooding and protecting the eggs and rearing the young.

    The cockadrak is an Indian Torvoraptor species, approximately the same size as the European veldrak . The females live in small packs with their chicks and juveniles while the males form smaller loosely-knit groups elsewhere. When the mating season draws near, the male groups often break up as the males seek a female pack to call their own. The male then stays with the pack until the chicks have hatched to protect them form other males. Sometimes younger males stick together to better compete with a stronger single male. Even though only one of the males might get the right to mate with all the females, the others will still protect its progeny. Based on this behavior, cockadraks may be most closely related to the matadrak .

    The veldrak, after which the family has become commonly known, is a 4 m long predator that favours the cover of forests and often hunts alone within its own, marked territory. Veldraks are known to hunt large prey cooperatively, but usually they go after animals smaller or the same size as themselves. The colour of veldrak's feathers changes according to the season: during summer their plumage is light greenish brown and during winter mostly grey. The males and females are surprisingly similar, the only sure way to tell them apart are the yellow preorbital "horns" of the male.

    The sildrak is a northern subspecies of veldrak with thicker plumage and pale grey feathers in winter. It is also reported to grow larger than the middle-European veldrak.

    The hundrak is one of the largest Eurasian barbarovenators, large males reaching the length of 5 m. These hunters of the steppes are found mainly in the temperate zone, from central Europe to eastern Asia. Their main prey are formosicorns of different sizes from yales to brutons, though in Eastern Asia they are reported to occasionally hunt shambla young and even adults weakened by disease or age.

    Hundraks are social, co-operative hunters unlike their closest relative, the drakhan. They are also somewhat more cursorial, though like all torvoraptoriformes, they rely mostly on stealth. Hundrak prides consist of up to ten females and usually one dominant male. Hundrak females lay all their eggs in the same nest, and take shifts in brooding and guarding the eggs.

     The drakhan (Barbarovenator asiaticus) is the principal deinonychosaurian predator in South and East Asia. Several subspecies are found from Pakistan to northern China, and range from the 6,5 m long B. asiaticus aquilonius to the 4 m B. asiaticus sumatrensis . All drakhan species are solitary, and females allow males inside their territory only during the mating season. There is no evidence of co-operative hunting among drakhans, and the fact that drakhans and hundraks coexist in Westernmost Asia may be due to this difference in hunting method.

    Drakhan is the other species in the controversial genus Barbarovenator (sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Barbaroraptor") which also  includes the hundrak . These were originally classified within Boreonychidae, until DNA analysis seemed to place hundrak within Torvoraptor. There were several doubters, however, who claimed that the samples had to have been contaminated and demanded the tests to be repeated, and drakhan be included in the analysis as well. The new DNA analysis not only proved Barbarovenator to be a valid genus, but also placed it genetically between Torvoraptor and Fennonychus , to the great relief of spectaxonomists.



The fendrak is a boreonychid well adapted to the freezing temperatures of the North Eurasian winters. Its 3.5-meter body is completely covered in insulating feathers from the tip of the snout to toes to the tip of the tail.  Fendraks aren't strictly speaking pack-hunters but they live in loose communities and sometimes co-operatively bring down large animals such as mooras or dorsas. 

 (fig. 1) Fendrak, Boreonychus grassator (Northern North America and Eurasia)

Fendraks lay one or two eggs in the spring, usually at the same time as the therizinosaurs begin nesting. Fendraks themselves don't build nests but brood the eggs in special brooding pouches situated under their arms. Brooding is usually left to the male while the female hunts and feeds him. If the male has died the female can also brood the eggs but is in danger of starving. In such cases other fendraks have been known to bring food to such "single mothers" if prey is plentiful. (This behavior isn't entirely altruistic as the feeders are usually closely related to the brooder.

    The polar drak evolved from the same basal stock as veldraks (Torvoraptor), but is more closely related to the fendrak. It isn't much of a runner, but it has adapted to life on the arctic ice sheet. A thick white plumage covers it's whole body exept for the tip of the snout and the webbing between its toes.

    Boreonychus is the one of the best swimmers amongst modern theropods, because it often has to cross large bodies of water to get to its prey. Polar draks most usually hunt for seaguins and sea parrots, which they stalk by their breathing holes, waiting for the prey to come up. The arms of polar draks are remarkably long and powerful, as they may have to use them to pull animals as big as the sea parrot on the ice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(fig. 2) (left)A polar drak fishes for seaguins (right)Manus and pes of polar drak.  Note the webbing between the digits.

    Bonychids originated in Eurasia and crossed over the Bering during the Ice Age.  By the present day, they have succsseded in pushing out most of North America's endemic deinonychosaurs (the hesperonychids) and now occupy most small predator niches on this continent.

    The greater interior drak (Paraboreonychus americensis) is a fleetfooted predator that hunts the alpine forests of western North America.  Although superficially similar to other New World hesperonychid deinonychosaurs , the drak and its reletives (the tundrak and the lesser drak) are actually the descendants of a Eurasian group of deinonychosaurs, which migrated to North America during the Ice Age.  The greater interior drak lives in a comfortably temperate climate, but its polar ansestry is still visable as a covering of down on the animal's toes and fingers.

The genus Aviphagus includes two species, both of which are confined to wetland habitats in the barrier island chains found off the coast of Eastern North America.  These islands are important resting and feeding locations for migrating shorebirds.  The draks breed during the height of the migration, during which time they feed almost exclusively on birds (their diet is highly varied during the rest of the year).  It is most likely due to this diet of birds that Aviphagus has evolved extremely long teeth (see image of Aviphagus gracilis, the lesser Barrier Island drak,  above).  These long, narrow teeth are important in getting a firm hold on struggling birds through their thick plumage.

    The plumage of Aviphagus , itself is very coarse, with numerous bristles on the face and neck.  It is thought that this integument helps to protect against abrasive vegetation found throughout the beachside habitats. There is some evidence that they may have tactile uses as well.