← Rex's Notes

Velociraptor

Turkey-sized, fully feathered, very fast.

Said: vuh-LOSS-ih-RAP-tor

Era: Cretaceous · 75 to 71 million years ago

Diet: Carnivore

Habitat: Sand dunes and oases of central Asia

Size: about the size of a medium dog with a long tail.

What it was like

Real Velociraptors were the size of a turkey and covered in feathers. They had one big curved claw on each foot for pinning prey, like a hawk.

What we know now

The movie versions are scaled-up Deinonychus, an unrelated North American dromaeosaur. Quill knobs preserved on the ulna of one specimen confirm pennaceous wing-feathers, though Velociraptor was flightless. The famous Fighting Dinosaurs fossil, locked mid-combat with a Protoceratops, was likely buried by a collapsing dune.

Notes

1. Probably hunted alone or in loose pairs, not coordinated packs.
2. The killing claw was likely used to pin small prey while it was eaten alive.
3. Skull was long and shallow, more like a coyote than a movie monster.