VELOCIRAPTOR
Velociraptor mongoliensis (ve-law-see-rap-tore mongol-ee-en-sis) is easily the most famous of the raptor dinosaurs or dromaeosaurs (dr-oh-me-oh-sores). However, the real Velociraptor is animal that is likely unrecognizable to many people. Read on to discover the real Velociraptor.
Original Discovery
Velociraptor was first discovered by a man named Peter Kaisen in 1923. One year later Henry Fairfield Osborn, then president of the American Museum of Natural History, gave the little dinosaur its name, meaning "swift thief of Mongolia". However, had Osborn published a paper he had written earlier in the year describing the same animal, Velociraptor would be known as "Ovoraptor" meaning "egg thief". Thankfully, that paper would never be published and Velociraptor was born.
Physical Appearance
Many people (myself included) think of the big, scaly monster from the Jurassic Park franchise when we hear the name Velociraptor. However, the animal featured in the movie could not have been further from the real creature. In real life, the largest skeletons of Velociraptor are the size of a turkey. It is likely that Velociraptor was covered in feathers, a trait inferred from the presence of quill knobs (attachment points for feathers) on the animal's arm bones. The shape of the head was also longer and narrower than depicted in the films. Even the signature toe claw was exaggerated for the movies, to help make the animal more intimidating.
Ecology
Living in the late Cretaceous of Mongolia (75-71 million years ago), Velociraptor was one of the smallest carnivores living in its ecosystem. Unable to take down large prey animals such as Deinocheirus or even Gallimimus, Velociraptor would have been forced to hunt the smaller herbivores of the region. However, an exquisite fossil shows that hunting these sheep-sized herbivores was no easy task. Known as the "fighting dinosaurs" specimen, this fossil shows a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops, a small cousin of the famous Triceratops. The Velociraptor has one of its legs extended, the toe claw reaching for the throat of the little herbivore, which has the arm of the predator clamped in its beak.
Extinction
The fossil record seems to indicate that Velociraptor and many of the other Mongolian dinosaurs went extinct around 70 million years ago, just four million years before all non-avian dinosaurs would become extinct. Therefore it is unknown what doomed these fierce ankle biters to extinction.
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Image Credits
All images have had minor cropping in order to fit the space required
All images are used under Fair Use laws
Credits are listed in order of appearance: Top to Bottom and Left to Right
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Velociraptor on the beach
Original screenshot by: Liekeze
Taken in game: Prehistoric Kingdom Demo
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Velociraptor skeleton
Original photograph by: Eduard Solà Vázquez
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Velociraptor reconstitution
Original image by: Some nice person on the internet (author please leave comment claiming credit)
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Fighting dinosaurs
Original photograph by: Yuya Tamai
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Dead Velociraptor mongoliensis
Original artwork by: John Conway