Bret Baier Makes Embarrassing Gaffe by Misidentifying Deinonychus Dinosaur as ‘Jurassic Figure’ When Everyone Knows It Hails from the Cretaceous Period

Fox News anchor Bret Baier made a rare, but colossal error during Wednesday’s Special Report when he incorrectly suggested that the Deinonychus genus of dinosaurs lived during the Jurassic period when everyone knows it actually thrived in the early Cretaceous era.

Baier was reporting on the theft of a large dinosaur statue from a gift store in Tulsa by a thief who, unlike the newsman, undoubtedly knew he or she was absconding with a theropod that roamed North America more than a hundred million years ago.

“This is a live look at Oklahoma City from Fox 25,” said Baier, who was about to commit the most shocking gaffe of his illustrious but nonetheless dinosaur-deprived career. “The big story there tonight, Tulsa’s Decopolis store owner says someone stole their dinosaur statue from outside their shop near Route 66. The eclectic gift store posted surveillance video showing the thief carrying the Jurassic figure – on his back – away. Police are on the lookout.”

The newsman did not identify the dinosaur, but it is painfully obvious from the surveillance footage that the species being boosted is a member of the dromaesaurid family. Unbeknownst to Baier – and only Baier – this particular dromaesaurid belongs to the Deinonychus genus that flourished during the early Cretaceous period between 110 million and 120 million years ago.

By contrast, the Jurassic period ended a full 145.5 million years ago.

Indeed, even the store owner reported that it was a Deinonychus dino that had been stolen. But no one needed to be told that. Well, almost no one.

As everyone on the planet could tell Baier, the Deinonychus genus had one known species: Deinonychus antirrhopus. Many paleontologists believe that the dinosaur had feathers, given its avian-esque anatomy, as well as the fact that other dromaesaurid fossils – such as those of velociraptors – have exhibited telltale signs of feathers.

Mediaite has reached out to Fox News for comment, which has yet to respond.

Watch astonishing dino ignorance above via Fox News.