Okay, I have generated a raptor to your designs, and the simulation proves it's impossible for the 7-ton raptor to work. Here's how:

Firstly, the raptors have one of the shortest tibiae and metatarsals of any land based predatory dinosaur. This is not a problem for small raptors but imposes serious implications on a 7-ton raptor. The problem is weight. The raptor body plan was never designed to carry that much weight and its not surprising things can go seriously wrong. Firstly, the short and broad tibiae and metatarsals of the raptor will provide very little leverage to move all that bulk, of course it'll be able to walk, but sauropod style. At best at 15 kilometers hours at top speed. One need to know that Tyrannosaurus was capable of doing 50.

Another problem. This 7-ton raptor will not be capable of jumping(for obvious reasons) nor effective kicking. The reason lies in weight redistribution. If a small raptor kicks, its displacing about 15 kilos of weight. If the 7-ton raptor kicks, it will redistribute about a ton of weight! If it tried kicking like a small raptor would, it'll tip over to its side. Notice the prints of big predatory dinos? Their three toes are spread out wide to aid in a big base. Now our 7-ton raptor would use only two toes to do the task. Of course it could kick, but the highest would be to the knee, not quite enough to gore a Tyrannosaur like a triceratops would.

And what about those slashing claws on the forelimbs? Well, the simulation shows it would be hard to slash effectively with those arms in a seven ton raptor. If you'll look at the big carnivores like Tyrannosaurus and Giganotosaurus, you would notice that their arms have been reduced leave weight for the head. If a seven-ton raptor decides to swipe, it would also experience serious balance problems by displacing about 900kilos of weight in very short order. Of course it's possible for a large predatory dino to have big forelimbs, but they literally lose a head in the process to make up weight. Physics plays a bigger role in how big carnivores look than in small ones.

You see, there's nothing wrong with the raptor body plan, the problem is in your plan. Mother Nature had a good reason for keeping the raptors small and this would be it. If a raptor was to be around 7 tons, it would have to lose that sickle claw and grow a third toe for a broad, stable base. Also, the raptor would have to have a new leg of slender and long tibiae and metatarsals. The limbs will have to be reduced if the raptor is going to rely on it's jaws to kill. In the end, you end up getting something looking like a Tyrannosaurid. It's impossible not to undergo drastic change if you're going to increase in size. Tyrannosaurus is actually a descendant of a group of small predatory dinosaurs not too unlike the small raptors, but in increasing the size, it had to undergo drastic change. It would also be the same for the raptors. Long story short, if you have a seven ton raptor design, it has to bee altered so drastically to work that it would not be called a raptor after that. Thank you

from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; Dec. 1, 2000

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