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Feathered Velociraptor in blue, pink and purple, with feathered arms and a fan of tail feathers

N° 030 · II. Raptors and Feathers

Velociraptor

The Feathered Thief

Say it: vel-OSS-ee-rap-tor

Species
Velociraptor mongoliensis, Osborn 1924
Name means
Quick plunderer
Lived
Late Cretaceous, about 74 to 70 million years ago
Found
Mongolia
Length
About 1.8 m
Weight
About 7 to 15 kg
Diet
Carnivore

Three things to know

Half the size of the film star

The films showed it at twice its real size. The real animal was about 1.8 m long and weighed only 7 to 15 kg.

Feathers, proved by a bone

In 2007 a forearm bone was found to carry quill knobs, where large feathers anchor to the bone in birds: direct evidence of feathers.

Found beside its prey

A fossil found in 1971 preserves it locked together with a Protoceratops, the hunter’s foot claw in the neck of its prey.

Every fact on this page is traced to a published source, listed at the back of the book.

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Velociraptor in the book

The real spread of N° 030 from the atlas: the text page with the facts, notes and six signs on the left, the plate on the right.

Velociraptor in the book: the left-hand text pageVelociraptor in the book: the right-hand plate page

When and where Velociraptor lived

Velociraptor lived about 74 to 70 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Mongolia and northern China. Its fossils come mostly from the Djadochta Formation of the Gobi Desert, whose red sandstones record a dry land of sand dunes and seasonal streams. It shared that world with Protoceratops, a sheep-sized horned dinosaur, and with Oviraptor and other feathered relatives of birds.

How Velociraptor was discovered and named

The first Velociraptor skull and claw were found in 1923 at the Flaming Cliffs of the Gobi, during the American Museum of Natural History’s Central Asiatic Expeditions led by Roy Chapman Andrews. Henry Fairfield Osborn named it in 1924. In 1971 a Polish and Mongolian expedition found the famous Fighting Dinosaurs, a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops buried together in the middle of a struggle.

How Velociraptor lived

Velociraptor was a dromaeosaur, one of the closest dinosaur relatives of birds. It was about the size of a large turkey, with a long, stiff tail for balance, feathered arms and a large, curved claw on the second toe of each foot, held clear of the ground as it walked. It was a quick hunter of small animals, and probably a scavenger when the chance came. The animals called Velociraptor in films are far larger and featherless, and owe more to its American cousin Deinonychus.

Velociraptor in Glowing Dinosaurs

Velociraptor is entry N° 030 of the atlas, in the chapter II. Raptors and Feathers. Its spread follows the same layout as every other dinosaur in the book: on the left, its name and how to say it, the epithet The Feathered Thief, the three facts above, field notes and the six signs that show when it lived, how big it was, how dangerous it would have been, where it was found, what it ate and how it fought. On the right is the full glowing plate: feathered Velociraptor in blue, pink and purple, with feathered arms and a fan of tail feathers. Two more plates of Velociraptor appear elsewhere in the book, and each can also be ordered as a signed work for the wall, printed on wood or acrylic under glass. In the same chapter you will also find Deinonychus.

Why Velociraptor glows

No dinosaur is known to have glowed, and the book says so plainly. The light is the artist’s way of seeing inside the animal: in the plate of Velociraptor, bones, muscles and outline shine through a dark ground, so the shape of the skull, the length of the neck and tail and the build of the legs can be read at once, the way a fossil skeleton is read in a museum hall. The colours are chosen to separate bone from muscle and to make each animal recognisable across the whole atlas, while every fact printed beside the picture is checked against published research.

Questions about Velociraptor

How big was Velociraptor?

Velociraptor measured about 1.8 m from nose to tail and weighed about 7 to 15 kg. The size panel on its spread in the book draws it beside a person, so its scale can be seen at a glance.

When did Velociraptor live?

It lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 74 to 70 million years ago. On the timeline in the book, its place is marked between the first dinosaurs, about 230 million years ago, and the end of the age of dinosaurs, 66 million years ago.

Where have Velociraptor fossils been found?

Its fossils have been found in Mongolia. The map on its spread in the book marks the places where its bones were dug up.

What did Velociraptor eat?

Its diet: carnivore. The diet sign in the book shows this with a simple symbol, so young readers can sort the plant-eaters from the meat-eaters.

What does the name Velociraptor mean?

The name means “quick plunderer”. The full scientific name is Velociraptor mongoliensis, Osborn 1924: the genus, the species and the scientist who named it, with the year. It is pronounced vel-OSS-ee-rap-tor.

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