#Prehistoric Creatures - Velociraptor.

Velociraptor. Thief Dinosaur.

At the turn of the world's existence, many interesting forms of life have developed. Their features perfectly adapted to the surrounding in which they were located and also facilitated in many tasks. They possessed many talents as well as specific attributes of anatomy, which in the main contributed to the main factor of existence - survival. So it would be interesting to start with one of the most recognizable reptiles who have ever existed in our world, mainly known by a series of films "Jurassic Park" and "Jurassic World".

---

Source:, Image Credit: Fred Wierum

Velociraptor was a small, predatory dinosaur, reaching an average of 1.8 meters in length and about 15 kg of weight. The dinosaur's mouth was in length of 25 cm and armed with very sharp teeth with a number of 26-28. The dinosaur was bipedal and its paws were equipped with long and sharp claws. The neck was long and bent, resembling the letter "S". The characteristic feature of this dinosaur was an exceptionally large brain. Velociraptor from the Dromeozaur family inhabited the territories of present-day Mongolia, as well as the areas of present-day North China, where in those periods they were covered with a vast desert. He lived between 66-89 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous.

Source:, Image Credit: Matt Martyniuk

Anatomically, the velociraptor looks more like a bird than a reptile. His wrist bones were similar to bird's wings, it should not be surprising because the animal had feathers. There is a hypothesis that it came from flying ancestors. On his feet he had a sickle claw that measured about 6 cm, which was serving him to inflict fatal blows. The name velociraptor literally means a quick thief, it is estimated that he was able to run at a speed of 55 km/h.

---

These features describe the specifications of the construction of this creature, but the most interesting thing is the matter of the size of his brain, because the widespread opinion about this creature indicates that he was very intelligent.

Source:, Image Credit: Ben Townsend

In many cultural references like famous movie "Jurassic Park", these creatures are portrayed as ruthless killers. Velociraptor is often depicted as a herd animal, hunting in organized groups, like today's lions or wolves. However, in reality there is no direct evidence that this predator lived in groups. Some palaeontologists assume this assumption by analogy with deinonychus, another representative of the dromeozaur family. They are also presented as animals without feathers, this is due to the fact that in the 80's it was not known that they were plumage. And also as killers, attacking and killing their victims without even feeling the need for hunger.

Attack without foundation is contrary to the nature of animals. They do not try to attack because it is associated with risk. Without a reason to do this, the animals rather avoid conflict. When they attack, however, they must have a specific reason like a sense of hunger or a threat to the territory. Events such as an attack without a cause are absurd from the point of view of evolution. So this is quite contrary to how velociraptors are perceived.

To determine the intelligence of these creatures, we can use the encephalization coefficient, which describes the ratio of brain mass to body mass. If this coefficient is 2, it means that the animal's brain is twice as large as it would be expected from the animal's size. The encephalization coefficient is not a great tool to describe this but it will allow us to compare velociraptors to other animals. For example the human's coefficient is bout 6.7, when it reaches 5 in velociraptors. And it might seem like a lot, but some birds can be proud of the same proportion.

Source:, Image Credit: Zil-fr & Poke2001

There is no confirmation of the increased intelligence of these animals. They were compared to creatures able to communicate and surround their victims to build tactics based on processed information. This means that the velociraptors would have to be capable of inferring and analogous thinking about the state of thinking of other beings. No creature known to us has such abilities.

Over the years, the visualization of these creatures has evolved, but it is mainly caused by the current movie industry and the profit that counts there. The commercial campaign has made even this genre a kind of mascot of the new Jurassic movies series, greatly exaggerating their natural qualities of both construction and intelligence.

References:

[1] https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app44/app44-189.pdf
[2] http://www.encyklopedia.dinozaury.com/index.php?title=Velociraptor
[3] http://dinoanimals.pl/dinozaury/velociraptor-krwiozerczy-zabojca/
[4] https://sites.google.com/site/dinozaurynet/dinozaury-1/velociraptor