\nIf you ask your average 5-year-old what their favorite dinosaur is, they will generally make a big fuss about how cool Velociraptors are.\n
Hell, thanks to the Jurassic Park films they\u2019re probably even your average 10-year-olds favorite dinosaur too! All I know is that they\u2019re my favorite dinosaur.\n
If you\u2019re coming here now trying to figure out what a Velociraptor is, and why they\u2019re awesome, then here\u2019s the general scoop.\n
Velociraptors were small to medium-sized dinosaurs that lived between 75 to 71 million years ago, give or take.\n
Adult Velociraptors grew to around 6.8 feet (2.07 m) long and 1.6 feet (0.5 m) high and weighed very little, around 33 pounds (15kg).\n
They had 26 razor-sharp serrated teeth, stood on two feet, with two small arms with three claws on each.\n
Most importantly though, they were most likely very fast, and were able to outrun most prey or even predators!\n
Now that you have a very basic idea of what a Velociraptor is, let\u2019s look at some of the more interesting facts that make these dinosaurs the coolest of all!\n
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With facts like this, it\u2019s best to rip the band-aid off first and get it over with. Those super agile, hyper-intelligent beasts that Chris Pratt controls in Jurassic World?\n
Yeah, they\u2019re not actually based off Velociraptors. They\u2019re actually a model of a different dinosaur called Deinonychus antirrhopus, which lived about 30 million years before the Velociraptor.\n So why use an older dinosaur than Velociraptors and refer to them incorrectly?\n Well, the Deinonychus is a much bigger and scary-looking version of the Velociraptor, not to mention their name is, well, simply not as cool.\n The fossils that were later identified as a new species were discovered in the Mongolian Gobi Desert on August 11, 1923, by Peter Kaisen.\n The fossils Peter discovered were a crushed skull and a claw and were completely unknown to the world until that point in time.\n The man responsible for naming the first Velociraptor fossil was actually the president of the American Museum of Natural History, a paleontologist called Henry Fairfield Osborn.\n When Henry Osborn first named Velociraptors in 1924, he only had a small amount of information regarding the animals to go off.\n From what he could see though, they would have been quite fast and agile hunters.\n As such, he named them Velociraptors, a combination of the Latin word \u201cvelox\u201d meaning \u201cswift\u201d, and \u201craptor\u201d, which meant thief.\n It\u2019s actually one of the most striking fossils of any dinosaur (or two) that has ever been discovered.\n The fossils found by a Polish and Mongolian team in 1971 clearly show that the two dinosaurs were in the middle of a life-or-death struggle when they were caught in what can only be guessed as a freak sandstorm and buried alive.\n Their fossil remains still showed that it was a pretty even match \u2013 although one of the velociraptors arms was trapped in the jaws of the Protoceratops, the velociraptor had dug its claw deep in its opponents\u2019 neck.\n Once again, if you\u2019ve based what you know of velociraptors off Jurassic Park, then I\u2019m sorry for ruining your dreams.\n The reality is that not only were Velociraptors not the giant and fearsome beasts that they were made out to be, but they were also covered in feathers!\n With that being said, scientists still haven\u2019t been able to figure out the extent of their plumage, whether they were completely covered in feathers or just had a few plumes sticking out here and there.\n Either way, they certainly weren\u2019t the lizard-like beasts as depicted in Jurassic Park!\n Although Velociraptors had feathers, they didn\u2019t really have wings.\n Maybe if they had kept on evolving for several millennia this would have become possible, but due to their physical make up they simply couldn\u2019t, no matter how hard they tried!\n They did have fused wishbones like modern birds, but their arms were simply too short to ever be able to support their body weight.\n Once again due to the size and shape of their arms, they weren\u2019t even able to glide!\n So, what were their feathers for then? Some scientists have guessed that they may have been used in mating rituals, or to help shelter their eggs while brooding on a nest-like modern-day chickens.\n There are some theories among paleontologists that Velociraptors, or at least their close relatives, climbed trees.\n While it\u2019s a pretty contested theory, all we have with dinosaurs are theories.\n The theory is based upon the singular large blade-like raised claw that Velociraptors and others within the Dromaeosauridae family have on their hind feet.\n Some other paleontologists disagree of course, believing that the claws were instead used to slash at their prey, rather than for climbing.\n It\u2019s possible that we may never know, but either way, their claws are quite fearsome!\n Pop culture has made out these raptors to be hyper-intelligent creatures, capable of complex thought. Unfortunately for Velociraptors, this is simply fantasy.\n The reality is that dinosaur brains weren\u2019t all that developed, with their mental processes being up to the same level of a newborn cat if that at all.\n If anything, I\u2019ve just insulted chickens more than Velociraptors.\n While the first species of Velociraptor, V. mongoliensis, was discovered in 1924, the second was discovered much later in 2008, also in Mongolia.\n This second species was named Velociraptor osmolskae after the Polish paleontologist Halszka Osm\u00f3lska.\n The known differences between the two are minimal, though. As far as paleontologists can tell, the only differences lie in minor variations in their jaws.\n For those who were left shivering in their seats when they watched any of the Jurassic Park movies, worry no more!\n The reality is that we have no way of reconstructing the sounds that they would have made using fossils alone.\n So, what were those sounds that scared us all? A sound designer recorded a number of sounds of different animals at an animal park.\n Some of the sound samples were from horses, geese, dolphins, and even the grunts of tortoises making love!\n As we\u2019ve previously gone over, we now know that Velociraptors were feathered beasts, rather than the previously held idea that they were covered in scales like lizards.\n Some scientists have put forward the idea that the modern animals that Velociraptors were most similar to are eagles.\n One main reason for this is due to the large claw on the Velociraptor\u2019s hind legs, which seems very similar to an eagle\u2019s talon.\n It\u2019s supposed that they even used the claw in a similar way to eagles by hooking into their prey and holding on while biting them with their rather formidable teeth.\n No matter what, whether they were like land-based eagles or not, I certainly wouldn\u2019t want to meet an angry one!\n The famous fossil of a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops caught in the middle of a fight has led paleontologists to believe for a long time that this dinosaur was the type that Velociraptors hunted.\n While it\u2019s an interesting idea, it\u2019s been figured that this probably isn\u2019t the case.\n Velociraptors were quite small beasts, with razor-sharp teeth and physical builds that indicated great agility.\n This meant that they would have been very skilled hunters, but due to the narrowness of their jaws, they most likely hunted animals much smaller than themselves.\n Something that Jurassic Park did get right is the terrifying speed of Velociraptors.\n Scientists are able to model the approximate speed of animals based on their general physical build, and the length of their shinbones.\n In the case of Velociraptors, they had quite long shinbones, as well as a long sturdy tail which could have helped them to steer while at high speeds.\n So how fast could they run? The rough estimates are a terrifying 40 miles per hour (64 km\/hr)!\n \n Well, there we have it. What we know about Velociraptors isn\u2019t all that different from what we originally guessed when they were discovered.\n They were very swift, and they probably stole eggs and young from other dinosaurs\u2019 nests.\n The biggest surprise to most people is that they had feathers, but I think I\u2019m okay with that!\n How about you? Personally, the idea of land-based eagles that could run at 40 miles per hour is terrifying enough to me!\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Velociraptors were small to medium sized dinosaurs that lived between 75-71 million years ago. With 26 razor sharp teeth and the ability to travel at high speeds we should be glad they aren\u2019t around today. Let\u2019s take a look at what scientists know about this incredible dinosaur so far.\n","protected":false},"author":10000016,"featured_media":203450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"0","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"227302,212350,203550,237042","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"category":[2],"tags":[927],"topics":[463],"class_list":["post-203436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animals","tag-dinosaurs","topics-dinosaurs","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","resize-featured-image"],"acf":{"tfs_social_fact":"Did you know that Velociraptors weren't the scaly dinosaurs seen in Jurassic Park but were actually covered in feathers?","tfs_pinterest_description":"Velociraptors are one of the most popular dinosaur's thanks to the Jurassic Park movies. However, they aren't exactly as depicted in the films. Nonetheless they were still amazing in their own right. Come and find out why! #TheFactSite #Facts #Dinosaurs #Velociraptor #History #Animals #Extinct","tfs_pinterest_image":204241,"tfs_sources":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/things-to-know-velociraptor-1093806","title":"ThoughtCo","no_follow":false},{"url":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Velociraptor","title":"Wikipedia","no_follow":false},{"url":"https:\/\/www.mentalfloss.com\/article\/64937\/10-swift-facts-about-velociraptor","title":"Mental Floss","no_follow":false},{"url":"https:\/\/jellyquest.com\/velociraptor-facts\/","title":"Jelly Quest","no_follow":false},{"url":"https:\/\/www.nhm.ac.uk\/discover\/velociraptor-facts.html","title":"NHM","no_follow":false}],"tfs_previous_post_link":false,"tfs_next_post_link":false,"tfs_guest_author":false,"is_trending":false},"yoast_head":"Velociraptors were only discovered in 1924.\n
\nVelociraptors have a surprisingly accurate name.\n
\nThere is a fossil of a Velociraptor and Protoceratops caught in the middle of a fight.\n
\nSurprisingly, Velociraptors were actually feathered dinosaurs.\n
\nDon\u2019t worry though \u2013 Velociraptors couldn\u2019t fly!\n
\nVelociraptors may have even climbed trees!\n
\nVelociraptors weren\u2019t much smarter than chickens.\n
\nThere are actually two different species of Velociraptors.\n
\nWe have no idea what they sounded like.\n
\nIn reality, Velociraptors were more like land-based eagles.\n
\nVelociraptors were agile and skilled hunters.\n
\nVelociraptors could run much faster than humans.\n
\n