How Tall is A Velociraptor

How Tall is A Velociraptor? Ever watched Jurassic Park as a child, and the second they showed the scene wherein the main characters saw a living dinosaur(although CGI), for the very first time, like them, your jaw dropped, and was shocked in awe with the majestic animals.

But then that amazement suddenly switched into fear when these viscously scary dinosaurs such as the T-Rex and the Velociraptor terrorized the people for the remainder of the movie. However contrary to what a majority of people believe a Velociraptor is, they are not quite what was featured in the movie.

Velociraptors or ‘swift seizer’ in Latin, are theropods(three-toed, with hollow boned dinosaurs), who lived in the Cretaceous Period, who are carnivorous and hunts in packs. There are only two known species of the Velociraptor, the Velociraptor mongoliensis; which fossils have been discovered in Mongolia, while the second species is the Velociraptor Osmolskae, which was named from a skull that was discovered in Inner Mongolia, China.

SO HOW TALL IS A VELOCIRAPTOR? HERE ARE ACTUAL FACTS ABOUT THE VELOCIRAPTOR:

• Unlike the scaly, reptile-like skin that we are accustomed to, Velociraptors are actually Dromaesaurids, a type of theropod that has feathers like birds. This was a recent discovery from scientists as they compare velociraptor fossils having quill knobs, very similar to hawks or eagles.
• They are also small. The movie’s portrayal was that they were about 15 feet in length and about 8 feet in height. But in reality, Velociraptors are actually about 6 feet in length and about 2 feet in height 0r about a knee-length of an average-sized adult. Much more like a large turkey or a peacock.
• The iconic claw on its feet was not really used as a weapon to lacerate its prey. It did not really serve a purpose for killing as its razor-sharp teeth were enough to cut through the meat. It’s also hampered it from running fast for a longer duration. It was used to grab things, like birds.

SO WHY USE THE NAME VELOCIRAPTOR, IN A DINOSAUR MOVIE NONE THE LEAST, WITH A COMPLETELY INACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF THE SAID ANIMAL?

There was actually a dinosaur similar to what a Velociraptor was portraying in the movie. Although a Dromaesaurids, the Deinonychus was an 8 feet high, 13 feet in length, super agile monster, and hunted in packs to slay a larger prey, very similar to the movie Velociraptor.

In fact, Michael Crichton, the novel author where the movie was based, as well as the director, Steven Spielberg, was supposed to name the dinosaur Deinonychus, however, they find that Velociraptor was the more catchy and scarier name.

They further explained why they continue to present the Velociraptor with their own depiction, as the first movie explains that when they created the dinosaurs, no one actually knew what they looked like in real life, so the Velociraptor was reimagined through their own research and representation.

Even after recent discoveries from scientists and paleontologists, they continued their ‘Velociraptor’ on the concurrent series as this was how the audience enjoyed it from the original Jurassic Park.