Velociraptor, << vuh `lahs` uh RAP tuhr, >> was a small meat-eating dinosaur. It lived about 80 million years ago in what are now Mongolia and northern China. Velociraptor grew to about 20 inches (50 centimeters) tall at the hips and 6 feet (1.8 meters) long from nose to tail. Fossils suggest that Velociraptor had a covering of feathers. Its body was roughly the size of a turkey with a long tail. Velociraptor may have somewhat resembled a strange, fierce bird.
Velociraptor was a hunter. It could run quickly on its two powerful hind legs, using its stiff tail for balance. Velociraptor had a relatively large brain, though its skull was narrow and lightly built. On the second toe of each hind foot, it had a large, sicklelike claw. Velociraptor likely used these claws to rip open the bellies of animals it hunted. It had a large mouth full of sharp teeth. Some scientists have suggested that Velociraptor hunted in packs, but there is no solid evidence for this idea.
One spectacular Velociraptor fossil is known as the “fighting dinosaurs.” It preserves a Velociraptor that appears to be attacking a plant-eating dinosaur. The Velociraptor’s foot claw is jammed into its victim’s neck, while its front claws seem to rake across the victim’s face. The scene was preserved when a sand dune collapsed, burying the animals alive.
Fossils of related animals suggest that Velociraptor had a covering of feathers. Also, some Velociraptor fossils show bumps on the bone of the forearm. Similar bumps support feathers in the wings of many birds. Most scientists think that birds descended from dinosaurs similar to Velociraptor.
See also: Dinosaur (Kinds of dinosaurs); Theropod.
