Sorry about that but I was busy yesterday and didn't have a chance to get online, I was fossil hunting, so I thought it would be appropriate to post an article on a dinosaur, though there are only trilobites, rugose (horn) coral, brachiopods, and crinoids where I went. To the average person, the Velociraptor is shrouded in fear because of the Jurassic Park portrayal of these creatures. They were in fact no bigger than a turkey, not the human size that Hollywood would like you to believe and lived during the late Cretaceous not the Jurassic.
Director Steven Spielberg took some dramatic licensing with the Jurassic Park franchise, especially when it came to the Velociraptors. They were made taller and smaller than their real life counterparts, as a full grown adult would be only be three feet tall, if that. The dinosaurs seen in the movie, while called Velociraptors, where based more on the Velociraptor cousin Deinonychus which was much larger. Jurassic Park also portrayed them as being ultra-smart, such as being able to open doors, yet the reality is that they weren't any smarter than lions or other large cats.
The Velociraptor was small yet it was swift and built perfectly for hunting. Its name means "Swift Robber" because it body type mimics those of egg stealing dinosaurs and while it could have stolen eggs for food, it is certain that they at least ate meat. It has also been discovered that they in fact did have feathers as evidenced by quill nodules found on the bones. Fossils of Velociraptors are generally found in Mongolia and the sudden sand storms could quickly bury the creatures and allow for fossilization. One specimen was found locked onto a Protoceratops as they were killed while in combat. The movie did get one thing correct however, that is that they do have the famous sickle shaped claw, though not as big.
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