You might have seen Velociraptors in Jurassic Park. Are they of the same height and are they that intelligent as shown in the Jurassic Park? Let’s learn some basic information about this menacing dinosaur in our Velociraptor facts for kids.
Velociraptor Facts for Kids
1. Peter Kaisen found the Velociraptor in the Outer Mongolian Gobi Desert in 1923.
2. Velociraptors have extremely strong rear legs equipped with extended claws capable of ripping through their food. When they ran, their claws were retracted.
3. They lived around 75–71 million years ago with some of the world’s largest meat-eating dinosaurs, including the Albertosaurus, T. Rex and other dinosaurs of Cretaceous period.
4. Velociraptor’s name is pronounced “veh-loss-ih-RAP-tor.”
5. Velociraptor translates as “Rapid Robber” or “Quick Plunderer”.
6. Regrettably, the Velociraptor’s claim to pop-culture stardom in “Jurassic Park” is a fabrication. The special effects gurus have long admitted that they based their Velociraptor on the far larger, more dangerous-looking raptor named Deinonychus antirrhopus, whose name isn’t quite as catchy or simple to remember and who lived some 30 million years before its more renowned relative.
7. Until now, all of the dozen or so Velociraptor specimens known had been solitary individuals. The notion that Velociraptors hunted in cooperative groups is most likely based on the discovery of linked Deinonychus remains in North America.
Although this bigger raptor may have hunted in packs in order to take down larger duck-billed dinosaurs like Tenontosaurus, there is no reason to apply those results to Velociraptor. But it is also possible that they hunted in packs.
8. These intelligent dinosaurs have a huge brain, which enabled them to be extremely agile. Also, they could hunt in packs! They were dangerous predators when they worked together. Escaping their onslaught would have been nearly impossible.
9. New fossils discovered in China demonstrate that it has feathered quill knobs. This does not imply that this dinosaur was capable of flight. The feathers were possibly employed for warmth or mating displays.
10. A Velociraptor is estimated to weigh between 33 and 43 pounds. Velociraptor lengths are estimated to reach up to 6.8 feet.
Velociraptor Facts for Kids
11. Paleontologists believe the Velociraptor, like other dromaeosaurids, possessed feathers.
12. GIN 100/25 is the most renowned Velociraptor fossil. The “Fighting Dinosaurs” fossil is so named because it contains the fossilized bones of a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops engaged in combat.
13. Velociraptor kept its feathers, which it may have utilized to attract mates, control body temperature, defend eggs from predators, or produce push and speed while racing up inclines.
14. The top jaw of the Velociraptor possessed 13 to 15 teeth, while the lower jaw had 14 to 15 teeth. These teeth were widely spaced and serrated, while the back edge was more heavily serrated than the front edge.
15. Velociraptor fossils have been discovered in southern Mongolia and areas of northern China’s Gobi Desert. Velociraptor mongoliensis has only been discovered in Mongolia’s Ömnögovi province, in the Djadochta (Djadokhta) Formation.
16. Other Velociraptor fossils, like those from the “Fighting Dinosaurs,” were discovered in dry sand dune habitats.
17. They were meat eaters, or carnivores. They would either scavenge larger dinosaurs’ carcasses or hunt for themselves. They could attack considerably larger dinosaurs such as Protoceratops as a group.
18. They weighed 55 pounds and measured 1.8 meters (6 feet) in length. Despite their little size, they were extremely swift and nimble.
19. Velociraptor’s peak running speed is estimated to be up to 40 miles per hour.