Velociraptor

Name means: Swift thief
Height: 2 ft (0.6 m)
Length: 5 ft (1.52 m)
Weight: 30 lbs (13 kg)

Made famous by the Jurassic Park movie series, Velociraptor was a small carnivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous (~70 mya) in eastern Asia. Velociraptor adults were slightly larger than a turkey and not as large as they have been portrayed in the movies! It is a member of a group called the dromeosaurs that evolved in the Jurassic and has members in North and South America, Asia, and Europe. Dromeosaurs are found in nearly every fossil deposit from the Cretaceous period, which suggests that they were very successful.

Close relatives of Velociraptor, such as Sinornithosaurus, suggest that Velociraptor was covered in feathers and that its arms and legs were covered in long feathers. However, Velociraptor did not have the adaptations for flight. Velociraptor was bipedal, has an elongated tail strengthened with small bony rods, long arms, and three lengthy fingers with large, pointed claws. Furthermore, the foot of the Velociraptor bears a modified “killing claw” that was used for hunting. One skeleton of Velociraptor was found attacking a Protoceratops. Both animals were likely in mortal combat when a sand dune collapsed and instantly buried them.