Athena Review Image Archive ™
Velociraptor skull and neck
Skull and neck of Velociraptor (Chinasaurs Exhibit, cast; photo: Athena Review)
Velociraptor was a relatively small but agile, bipedal dinosaur dating from the Late Cretaceous period (75-71 mya). The name means "speedy plunderer" (from veloci- "speedy", -raptor, "plunderer"). Velociraptor is in the class Saurishchia, the Order Theropoda, and the family Dromaeosauridae. The type species is Velociraptor mongoliensis, described by Osborn (1924). A second species found in Inner Mongolia, V. osmolskae, was described by Godefroit et al. in 2008.
Velociraptor was a predator about 1 m long who ran very quickly on two legs. and may have hunted in packs. Velociraptor can be distinguished from other dromaeosaurids by its long and low skull, with an upturned snout. The Velociraptor skull shows a relatively large brain, as well as large eyes, which indicates noctural hunting habits. It had a long tail and an enlarged, sickle-shaped claw on each hindfoot, used to disembowel its prey.
This specimen was found in Rehe, Liaoning Province, China, and was exhibited as a cast in the 2013 Chinasaurs Exhibit in the US.
References:
Chinasaurs Exhibit. 2013.
Godefroit, P., P. Currie, H. Li, C-Y Shang, Z. Dong 2008. A new species of Velociraptor (Dinosauria: Dromaeosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of northern China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 28 (2): 432–438.
Osborn, Henry F. 1924. Three new Theropoda, Protoceratops zone, central Mongolia. American Museum Novitates. 144: 1–12.
Copyright © 1996-2020 Rust Family Foundation (All Rights Reserved).