Name :
Habitat:
Historical Period:
Size and Weight:
Diet:
Distinguishing Characteristics:
About Velociraptor:
If all you know about Velociraptor comes from the movie Jurassic Park, put those images out of your head right away: the villains in that flick weren't really Velociraptors, but larger (and more threatening-looking) carnivores of the genus Deinonychus. Velociraptors were vicious, all right, but they were also very small--and it's unlikely a 35-pound predator would have elicited all those "ooh"'s and "aah"'s at the local cineplex. (See more facts, figures and news about Velociraptor and 10 Facts About Velociraptor.)
Today, the main controversy about Velociraptor concerns what, exactly, it looked like. This dinosaur used to be depicted with boring, green reptilian skin, but lately the fashion is to portray it with primitive, downy, brightly colored feathers, which has given artists plenty of leeway in their various depictions. Unfortunately, pending a spectacular fossil find, artists' conceptions will have to remain just that--conceptions.
