Velociraptor

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Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur which lived during the late Cretaceous period in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.  It was a turkey-sized predator famous for its sickle claw/talon on the second toe of each foot and its role in Jurassic Park. 

Facts

At 2.1 meters long and 1 meter tall, Velociraptor is relatively small compared to other members of the same family, but as equally in ferocity and intelligence. Despite not being much bigger than a turkey, they were still pretty lethal predators. They can use their lethal claws on their toes with devastating effect and can kill a big male Protoceratops. Velociraptor are often at risk when they attack larger prey. Velociraptor, like most animals, didn't like loud noises.

Size of Velociraptor in comparison to human. (Source: BBC)

In the 2nd episode of the BBC documentary The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs, a test debunked the myth of its infamous foot claw involving it disembowel its victims. The producers of the program created an artificial Velociraptor leg with a sickle claw and used a pork belly to simulate the dinosaur's prey. Though the sickle claw did penetrate the abdominal wall, it was unable to tear it open, indicating that the claw was not used to disembowel its prey as shown in Chased by Dinosaurs. Instead, as shown in a famous fossil involving Velociraptor attacking its prey item Protoceratops, Velociraptor stabbed its victims into the throat in order to kill it by stabbing the windpipe and/or the major arteries (eg: the jugular vein).

Portrayal in the series

In the series, it was seen in a few scenes. It was accurately portrayed as a pack hunter that could take down Protoceratops. It also attacked Nigel Marvin and the camera man. It inaccurately had a greenish color so it could blend in its jungle habitat, though they lived in the desert. It also lacked feathers--a serious error that Walking With Dinosaurs also failed to correct.

In the series

Chased by Dinosaurs

The Giant Claw

A pair of Velociraptors eating. (The Giant Claw)

Nigel Marven saw a pack of Velociraptors in a forest stalking him. It was revealed that they were not stalking Nigel but instead were stalking an injured Protoceratops. The pack constantly harassed and attacked the animal. One Velociraptor had its arm broken by Protoceratops'  beak. The animal eventually succumbed to its injuries and died. The pack then fed on the carcass whilst the injured individual stood away.

Later, whilst Nigel was checking out a Therizinosaurus skeleton, a pack of Velociraptors found him and chased him and the cameraman. Nigel and the cameraman climbed on top of some tall tree stumps and used bicycle horns to scare off the pack.

Sea Monsters

A Velociraptor is seen chasing Nigel Marven. The clips of them chasing Nigel was reused from Chased by Dinosaurs except from the clip where Nigel jumps over a log and the Velociraptors follow.

Walking With Dinosaurs: Inside Their World

Velociraptor is one of the viewable dinosaurs in the app. An image of a pack can be seen attacking a Protoceratops and another photo recreates the famous fossil find of a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops.

Appearances in Other Media

Primeval

Read more at the Anomaly Research Center

A baby Velociraptor has also appeared in one episode of Primeval, where it ran through an anomaly, trying to escape from a Giganotosaurus. It bites Nigel Marven, on his finger, and then runs back through the anomaly.

Later on, in Fire And Water, a spin-off novel, for Primeval, six Velociraptors came through an anomaly, to a wet and rainy Maidenhead. They managed to kill a soldier named Jamie Weavers, before being killed, by some Deinosuchus.

Jurassic Park

Read more at the Jurassic Park Wiki

In Jurassic Park, the Velociraptor is depicted as a 3-meter tall reptilian pack hunter that used its sickle talons to disembowel their prey. They were actually based on Deinonychus but were the size of Utahraptor instead.

Gallery

This is a small selection of images from the massive gallery page for Velociraptor. To the full collection of images, see here!

TGC Velociraptor 13.jpg

TGC Velociraptor 47.jpg

TGC Velociraptor 65.jpg

TGC Velociraptor 74.jpg

SM1x1 Velociraptor 3.jpg

Errors

• Recent evidence shows Velociraptor was a scavenger and a nocturnal hunter.
• It would very rarely if ever go after adult Protoceratops, though the Fighting Dinosaurs specimen, discovered in 1971, suggests otherwise.
• There is no good evidence that dromeosaurids hunted in packs. But it's still possible.
• Velociraptor and many other dromeosaurids were feathered. They were covered in pennaceous feathers and only the tip of the beak was unfeathered.
• Velociraptor did not have lived in heavily forested areas. All of the sites where Velociraptor fossils were found suggest that the animal lived in sandy, arid environments with many sand dunes (with one specimen apparently being smothered to death by a sand dune). Therefore, the jungle camouflage couldn't be possible. Their feathers were probably sandy colored.

Trivia

• A new study in 2011 indicated that Velociraptor and similar dromaeosaurs killed smaller prey by leaping on top of them, most likely killing them. The sickle talons would hold onto the kill as they would burrow their beak into it to eat. This was suggested because paleontologists found a similar foot structure to modern eagles and hawks.