Introduction
Velociraptor. The infamous dinosaur that terrorizes the human characters in any dinosaur films and wildly popularized by the film series, Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. The dinosaur was excellently utilized by the director, Steven Spielberg in the first 2 films and has been in every single Jurassic media as a ruthless, human-sized carnivore, hunting down with its high-speed running and tearing through anything with its sharp sickle claw and razor sharp teeth. Does it need any more of an introduction for this dinosaur? I think its popularity speaks volumes if I do say so myself but I cannot help but make a little introduction for this little dinosaur with a big presence.
The Velociraptor, meaning ‘Swift Thief‘, is a dromaeosauridae dinosaur which includes the ‘raptor‘ species of dinosaurs. Velociraptor is probably one of the most well-studied, understood and researched dinosaur in the world and why not, the fossil finds are excellent and full skeletons were found as well. It lived around 75 to 71 million years ago and sorry to say but it did not live with Tyrannosaurus or even in the same place as the two Velociraptor species, mongoliensis and osmolskae, were found in Mongolia and China of the Asia continent, not the USA.
The ‘Velociraptor’ you might be thinking about which was found in USA are a whole different species and there are more dromaeosauridae in USA which I will explore more in later dedicated posts. Now that you know slightly more about this dinosaur, let’s dig deeper into the sands of time to learn more about this fellow.
Discovery
Most would think Velociraptor was found in USA due to the scene in Jurassic Park where a skeleton of a supposed ‘Velociraptor‘ is dug up in Montana but that is completely wrong. To make it clear, the skeleton was of a Deinonychus antirrhopus and the novel writer for Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton, liked the name ‘Velociraptor‘ more because it sounded a lot cooler and coincidentally creating a new, fictional Velociraptor named Velociraptor antirrhopus.
I do believe this should make it clear that the real Velociraptor and the film Velociraptor are not the same. It is quite hard to distinguish this difference in the minds of people as most of the time, the film version is showcased most of the time in many entertainment media but I hope to make this clear among the audiences.
Velociraptor was first discovered in the Flaming Cliffs of the Djadochta Formation of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia on 11 August 1923 by Peter Kaisen in an expedition led by the American Museum of Natural History. The fossil was a crushed yet complete skull and one sickle claw. The first find was incredible with the discovery of a complete skull is very rare but makes the work for paleontologists much easier.
After that, American paleontologists were not able to enter communist Mongolia during the Cold War but expeditions by Soviet and Polish paleontologists found one of the most important, complete and extraordinary fossil which was a full skeleton of a Velociraptor fighting against a Protoceratops. Finding 2 amazingly preserved skeletons of dinosaurs dating back so many millions of years while also showcasing a daily life action among the dinosaurs is beyond extraordinary. These are the kinds of fossils paleontologists dream about. This fossil is a national treasure of Mongolia was given as a loan to AMNH for temporary exhibition and research.
Since then, many collaborative expeditions found more finds of Velociraptor as well as discovering more new species of ‘raptors’ in Mongolia and Northern China. They had also found what was thought to be a regular Velociraptor but turned out to be a new species called Shri devi in 2021.
Biology
The biology of Velociraptor is very different than the entertainment media showcasing it. It is not quite big either, more of a Shiba Inu size but a lot longer though. The adult Velociraptor measure upto 1.5 – 2.07 m (4.9 – 6.8 ft) long, approximately 0.5 m (1.6 ft) high at the hips, and weighing about 14.1–19.7 kg (31 – 43 lb). The snout is slim and narrow with sharp teeth for grabbing any unfortunate grubs or lizards.
The hand bones showed evidences of quill knobs even though not many fossils showed feather impressions but similar ‘raptor’ dinosaurs shows feather impression so it makes logical sense for Velociraptors to have feathers. Then they got the thin legs with the sickle claws for hunting a big prey like a Protoceratops even though it may not look big but it was to Velociraptors. And finally, a long stiff tail that could help in stabilizing the body movements with a fan of feathers at the end.
One more thing, the hands of the Velociraptors and all other two-legged dinosaurs, they are always in a clapping position and not in any other positions because that would break their wrists. This is how science works, theories once thought truth turned out to be dated with the help of more research.
Velociraptors would live in a desert environment and this is where the feathers would come in handy as during the hot days, it would reflect the heat and keep them cool while at chilly nights, the feathers would keep them warm by not letting the heat escape from the body. They would also scavenge as well as hunt when needed. They were the most opportunistic, small-sized hunter in the Cretaceous Gobi Desert.
Velociraptor also has a subfamily named ‘Velociraptorinae‘ which includes the genus like the list.
- Adasaurus
- Linheraptor
- Tsaagan
- Deinonychus
- Balaur
- Shri
- Kuru
- Velociraptor
Merchandise
Now, there are a lot of merchandise for Velociraptor but the problem is that most of them suffer from the same trope of using the film version of Velociraptor and not the real Velociraptor which is why I would like to let you know that even though some of the merch are not the real Velociraptor, they are still a fictional Velociraptor and it just goes to show your love of Velociraptor to others and that is what is most important.
This is why I am sharing an indie action figure creator, David Silva’s Beast of Mesozoic Raptor Series. He has the best looking dinosaur action figures you can ever imagine. Not only are the figures articulated and have wonderful coloration but they are designed in a scientifically accurate way and that is why I would be grateful if you can help out in his venture and show that there are a lot of people who loves his works.
But if you do not want these and still want some other Velociraptor merch, I have got your back and check out some of the links below:
LEGO Jurassic Park Velociraptor Escape 76957
Lego Jurassic World Blue and Beta Velociraptor Capture 76946
Jurassic World Dominion Velociraptor Blue Dinosaur Mask
Jurassic World Dominion Ferocious Pack Velociraptor Blue
Jurassic World Dino Escape Fierce Force Velociraptor
Jurassic World Dominion Capture & Crush Truck with Velociraptor
Jurassic World Hammond Collection Velociraptor Delta
Jurassic World Hammond Collection Velociraptor Blue
Jurassic Park III Hammond Collection Dr. Alan Grant & Velociraptor Pack
Jurassic Park III Hammond Collection Velociraptor
The Noble Collection Jurassic Park Velociraptor
Safari Ltd. Velociraptor Figurine
Media
There are a lot of Velociraptors in media and I mean a lot. The appearances of Velociraptor ranges from Comic Books to Mangas, Animes, Cartoons, Films and Documentaries and so much more. I could possibly not find all the media appearances of Velociraptor and I will list only the worthwhile media for you to indulge in but if there is a certain appearance that I have missed and should be on the list do let me know in the comments below.
But to start off with the latest and best representation would be Prehistoric Planet documentary series on Apple TV+. There is absolutely no reason why you should not watch this. It is an excellent documentary with the finest representation of the showcased species and best of all, no cutaways to paleontologists talking about dinosaurs, unlike most documentaries trying to save some of the budget.
Then for films, of course we have the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World series where the ‘Velociraptors’ are an integral part of the dinosaur roster. There has not been a single full-feature length film without one Velociraptor. I personally like the portrayal of Jurassic Park III Velociraptors because they had nice coloration even for different genders, also sported quills and they were not mindless monsters because in the film, they were only protecting their territory and their eggs. Jurassic World raptors are okay and the only surviving member of the raptor pack, Blue and Beta, are okay but they act like superhero characters in place of actual animals.
The Velociraptors did appear in a lot of Jurassic Park comic books but unfortunately, the books might not be available in regular markets but this is where Japan comes in with their latest manga series, called Dinosaur Sanctuary. Dinosaur Sanctuary is a story that takes place in a world where dinosaurs are created in a similar way as Jurassic Park but now there are dinosaur zoos all over the world and it has become a common thing and story goes over a rookie dinosaur handler getting hired at a struggling dinosaur zoo in Enoshima, Japan and she does her best to bring the zoo back on their feet. I cannot emphasize how important and how awesome this manga is.
This is THE MANGA for all dinosaur fans, its got calm moments, mysterious moments and thrilling moments and it does not showcase dinosaurs as some bloody monsters but shows them like animals, with stress, happiness, boredom, love, hunger and terrified. I beg everyone to read this manga at least once. I have listed down the links to get all the manga volumes that are currently out. I hope you have fun.
Fooo!!! I have written a lot for this little dinosaur and it goes to show how popular it is. When I first realized what a real Velociraptor would be like, I did not take it too kindly like most people and I used to argue how science ruined monster dinosaurs but slowly, my belief changed and it is because of science this dinosaur is in our collective mind.
I slowly realized how important this little Velociraptor would have been in the ecosystem and if you look at it positively, you can have it as a pet. It is not too big and it looks so cute from certain angles. Just gotta make sure we treat the guys right and de-claw them for safety. Well, I hope you learned a lot from this and I hope you come back for more dinosaur blogs!!!