Facts about Velociraptor Dinosaur

Remember the movie Jurassic Park? For those who saw it in the theater, dinosaurs seemed as if they were going to tear the screen and come out. These huge creatures, although now extinct, still attract our attention. Velociraptor dinosaur was one of the 'stars' of the film!

History
In an expedition to the outer Mongolian Gobi desert in 1922 by the American Museum of Natural History, the first Velociraptor fossil was found. It was a skull, crushed, but complete, along with a raptorial, second toe claw linked to the skull. This dinosaur's biological name is Velociraptor mongoliensis. The name, Velociraptor, is derived from Latin; velox meaning 'swift' and raptor meaning the 'plunderer'. The raptor part also refers to the nature and carnivorous diet of the dinosaur. The president of the American Museum of Natural History, Henry Osborn, named the skull and the claw as the type specimen of a new genus, Velociraptor, in 1924.

More specimens of this dinosaur were recorded by the Polish and Soviet scientists during the Cold War. A specimen discovered by the Polish-Mongolian team in 1971, is the most significant fossil to be found. It is called the 'Fighting Dinosaurs'. It depicts a Velociraptor involved in a battle with a Protoceratop. Later, during 1988 and 1990, some more Velociraptor remains were found in China, by a Chinese-Canadian team of scientists. All the known specimens of this dinosaur were discovered in the Omnogovi province of Mongolia. These dinosaurs are said to have lived in the Cretaceous period. The other types of dinosaurs which existed at the same time were Protoceratops, Gallimimus, Oviraptor, Edmontosaurus, Maiasaura, and Saurolophus.

Description
The Velociraptor was a bipedal, feathered carnivore. It had an enlarged sickle claw on its hind feet and a long-stiffened tail. The tail of the Velociraptor was stiff because of the long bony projections on the upper surface of the vertebrae and the ossified tendons underneath. One of the fossil specimens, is known to preserve a series of intact tail vertebrae. The tail, curved sideways (into an S-shape), probably gave the dinosaur, horizontal flexibility. These features in the tail helped the Velociraptor to be stable, while turning at a high speed. It was a middle-sized dinosaur, with adult dinosaurs measuring 6.8 feet long. The average weight of a Velociraptor was about 15 to 33 pounds. It had a long and low skull, with an upturned snout.

A large 'manus' (hand) with three strongly curved claws (similar to the wing bones found in modern birds) was the Velociraptor's best weapon. The second digit (corresponding to the middle finger in humans), had a large sickle-shaped claw, used mostly as predatory tool to tear into its prey. The formation of its teeth in the jaw was like a 'saw'. This gave it the advantage to get hold of a fast-moving prey. It is estimated that it could attain a speed of 39 km per hour, by moving upright on two legs. This helped the dinosaur to protect itself in the era, when bigger dinosaurs existed. More primitive species of Velociraptor are said to have had feathers all over the body and completely developed feathered wings. The Velociraptor was probably the most intelligent of the dinosaurs, as its large brain was proportionate to its body size.

Diet
The Velociraptor, being carnivorous, was an incessant meat eater. It is inferred from the various fossils which have been discovered that these creatures may have hunted in packs. This species even ate plant-eating dinosaurs.

Environment
The Velociraptor lived in an environment resembling a desert with few, sporadic streams. The fossil specimens found buried under the sand after their death, are proof of the dry and arid conditions it lived in.

The Velociraptor became a craze, after the Jurassic Park was released. It became so popular that dinosaur merchandise was in huge demand and sold in large numbers. This dinosaur is surely not extinct from the minds of the paleontologists and archaeologists.