Velociraptor mongoliensis Archosauria: Saurischia: Maniraptora: Dromeosauridae Locality: Shabarak Usu, Gobi Desert, southeastern Mongolia Age: Late Cretaceous (Campanian), 75 million years ago The maniraptoran theropods are represented at the exhibit by some dromaeosaurs, oviraptorids, and avimimids. These dinosaurs never reached such huge sizes as the carnosaurs. All maniraptorans are distinguished from the latter by well-developed, long and powerful forelimbs. They were definitely bipedal like the carnosaurs, and did not use the forelimbs for support when walking. The dromaeosaurs were medium-sized predators with a large sickle-like talon on the inner toe. The earliest dromaeosaur Deinonychus comes from the Early Cretaceous of North America. In the Late Cretaceous several genera of dromaeosaurs are known from North America and Central Asia (Velociraptor). Velociraptor was closely related to the North American Deinonychus. Although not massive like Tyrannosaurus or Tarbosaurus, this smaller dinosaur was a fierce predator, being quick and agile, as is portrayed in the movie 'Jurassic Park'. Unfortunately, the producers of 'Jurassic Park' felt compelled to make the movie Velociraptor 4 times larger than the fossil record would indicate. This perhaps sold 4 times more videos. Velociraptor was probably the size of a Great Dane. For its size, its brain was the largest of any dinosaur, being comparable to that of an emu in volume. Remains of Velociraptor have been found intertwined with those of their presumed prey, Protoceratops. In this case in a death embrace, the Velociraptor specimen had a firm hold on the head-shield of the Protoceratops, which must have punctured the chest cavity of the carnivore with its head. Both died as a result of the battle. Velociraptor had a long, low skull with a flat snout and long, functional arms. One toe on each foot, the inside toe, was large and shaped like a scythe-it could have done a lot of damage! It could also have done much damage with its compressed, dagger-shaped teeth that were serrated like steak-knives. Velociraptor had large eyes and probably 3-dimensional vision. |
