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Description
Velociraptor mongoliensis

The most famous of all the dromaeosaurids, the swift thief itself, Velociraptor mongoliensis.

History and Discovery:

Discovered in 1923 during an expedition to Mongolia, the original find consisted of a nearly complete (albeit crushed) skull, disassociated teeth, and a finger. In 1924, it was described by paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn dubbed the animal, Velociraptor meaning "swift seizer". However, for most of the 20th century, these animals were relatively obscure. Partially because the animal was incomplete, but also because the same year it was described, Mongolia became a communist country. Many finds of Velociraptor in the intervening years were discovered only by the USSR, Mongolia, and states from the Warsaw Pact. Very few westerners could analyze the remains with their Eastern-Bloc counterparts.
For many years, the only fossils in the West were the holotype skull. It was put in a museum display case in the American Museum of Natural for more than 6 decades. And few cared about it. It was just a skull of a weird-looking dinosaur from Mongolia. Why look at that when you could look at the T.rex?

Jurassic Park:

But in 1993, this animal was catapulted from obscurity to celebrity after the hit movie Jurassic Park hit movie theatres. It was the culmination of the Dinosaur Renaissance which forever changed the images of dinosaurs to the public. The Raptor villains of Jurassic Park made Velociraptor and Dromaeosaurs icons the world over.
However, the film and novel made them massive 6ft tall, 9ft long, and 350lb, pack-hunting dromaeosaurs. The infamous sickle claw was >6 inches in length, triple the size of the regular claw, used to slice open prey, extremely fast runners, and they made them hyper-intelligent animals.

Michael Crichton stated that the raptors from both the book and the film were based on Deinonychus of Early Cretaceous North America in terms of size, proportions, and snout shape. In fact, in the book, Dr.Alan Grant states that "Deinonychus is now considered one of the velociraptors".
Crichton probably came up with that sentence when Gregory S. Paul tried to lump Deinonychus into the Velociraptor around the time the book version of Jurassic Park was published. However, this is now viewed to be inaccurate for a variety of reasons from their differing morphology, their different locations, and habitats, as well as the time period these animals lived.
Another reason Crichton chose the name Velociraptor over Deinonychus is that he thought that the former's name sounded more dramatic. However, even then, both species came nowhere close to the size that Crichton or Spielberg showed on the page or in the film. Both parties probably came up with the man-sized dinosaur because they needed something to look and act intimidating, and they succeeded in spades.

Description and Appearance:

In reality, Velociraptor stood no taller than a coyote. Around two feet tall and 6 feet long, and it clocked in only at 33lbs. Furthermore, the skull was thinner and less carnosaurian-looking than in the film. With a thin and long snout lined with sharp teeth, it would've looked nothing like its movie counterpart.
They were far from what the Jurassic Park character, Henry Wu described as "big leathery birds". They were far more bird-like than anyone could have imagined.
In 1999, a discovery made in China showed that a basal dromaeosaur, Sinornithosaurus was covered in feathers. Including pronounced pennaceous feathers on its arms, legs, and tail. It was assumed that Velociraptor and its kind may have had feathers as well.
A discovery made in 2007, solidified this theory when paleontologists discovered pronounced quill-knobs on a Velociraptor's ulna. What it told them is that pennaceous feathers lined the arm and likely extended all the way up the arm. They were definitely not used for powered flight, but they could have been used to brood a nest or display. It makes sense considering other bird-like dinosaurs like Oviraptorids have been found in this position with their arms outstretched, brooding their eggs.
This new evidence coupled with the fact that most dromaeosaurs have feathers preserved from China means that Velociraptor was feathered with pronounced pennaceous feathers on its arms. How its tail feathers looked is up for debate. The basal Microraptoria has a fan of tails at the end. However, in the same region where Microraptoria evolved, there was a more derived and ground-dwelling Dromaeosaur Zhenyuanlong. It was similar in size to Velociraptor, and unlike its Microraptorian relatives, had a frond of pennaceous feathers running 4/5ths of the way down the tail before abruptly tapering off. Though no indications have been put forward to tell how the tail feathers looked on the various Dromaeosaurs, so it's really open to debate.

Social Behavior:

Pack hunting is something commonly depicted with Dromaeosaurs. With Raptors supposed higher intelligence, it has long been assumed these were the dogs of the cretaceous. Paleontologists assumed this when Deinonychus teeth were found in association with Tenontosaurus, a large herbivore. The only way they could've taken it down was to hunt together, so it was assumed Velociraptor could have done this as well. However, there actually is no good evidence of mammal-like pack hunting exhibited in raptors. Modern Archosaurs rarely cooperate in hunts and are more akin to a band of marauders than an organized group.
Very few modern land mammals exhibit this behavior as well, and mammals have got more developed brains to help facilitate this.
Velociraptors and other Dromaeosaurs, while they did have larger brains compared to the average theropods in relation to body size, were around as intelligent as an average backyard bird and likely not close to the level some dogs or cats were.
There is only one (possible) piece of evidence suggesting some form of group behavior. Trackways of Dromaeosaurs found in China show around 6 animals similar in size to Velociraptors walking in the same direction and they seem to move at an even pace. However, whether or not this is a family group or just unrelated animals tolerating each other is open to debate.
Without examining living animals, paleontologists will never truly know what kind of social behavior was in play with these unique animals.

Habitat:

Velociraptors evolved around 75,000,000 years ago in Mongolia. At that time, Mongolia actually looked similar to the climate of today. A dry, desert/steppe environment, however, unlike the Mongolian steppes of today, there was no grass in the environment. It shared the environment with the basal ceratopsian Protoceratops, its distant troodontid relative Saurornithoides, Oviraptorids, and small lizards and mammals which were likely its staple food source.

From Killer Claw to Gripping On:

Contrary to depictions showing them using their lethal claw to slash open prey, their infamous claw on the second digit was probably not designed to slice open prey. The tip is pointed and the curve being dull. A study conducted by Phil Manning from the University of Manchester in 2006 shows that while the claw could penetrate flesh, it was too dull to actually rip open the belly.
From re-examining the feet and claws, another theory has been put forward as to how dromaeosaurs killed their prey.
It's now believed that Velociraptor ambushed its prey, and pinning it down under its feet. The dinosaur would then feed upon it while it was still alive until it died of blood loss and organ failure. This hunting method is known as RPR (Raptor Prey Restraint). It's similar to what modern birds of prey employ when killing prey.
It makes sense as well considering the paleofauna in the regions where Velociraptors have been found. Fossil eggs and smaller mammals have been found in the region where Velociraptors have been found. Juvenile dinosaurs and mammals would have been easy prey for this carnivore.
However, a famous find, the "Fighting Dinosaurs" shows a Protoceratops and Velociraptor locked in mortal combat with the basal ceratopsian. Their fight ended probably when a sand-dune collapsed or a landslide occurred burying both of the animals alive.
It tells us that Velociraptors didn't just hunt juvenile dinosaurs, small lizards, or mammals around its size, but animals that could have been up to 8 times its size. It would've been impossible to restrain a large 200+lb Protoceratops using this method, however, they probably didn't need to. In Russia, golden eagles have been documented killing juvenile Sika deer, animals that are over 10 times their weight. They didn't restrain these animals, but they just swooped in on them and dug their talons into their quarry. The pure panic the prey would experience to try and get the animal off would widen the wound and eventually kill it through shock and blood loss.
It's likely Velociraptor tried to do this to the Protoceratops, however, if one examines the fossil, one can see the Protoceratops had the upper hand. Its arm was caught in the Protoceratops' beak. The left sickle claw was also jammed into the throat of the animal. Perhaps the animal tried to jump on the back of the ceratopsian got shaken off and pinned down. In an act of desperation, the Velociraptor tried to sink its sickle claw into the throat to get it free. However, seconds later, they were buried alive. Preserving their remains for over 70,000,000 years.

Speed:

A common depiction of Dromaeosaurs is that they were fast animals. Velociraptor's very name means "swift seizer", so one would assume Velociraptor and its kin would be fast runners. However, the way their feet were structured with thick metatarsals used to crush prey underfoot and their pronounced sickle claw which was always held off the ground meant that while they were powerful and lethal predators, they probably were average to slow ambush hunters. They would not have been capable of chasing down their prey, perhaps only able to manage a brief sprint of 20-30mph before pinning down their quarry.

Velociraptor remains an icon of the dinosaur world. Made famous from Jurassic Park, and now recognizable the world over. However, as recognizable as its movie form is, paleontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts can tell you, the real animal was far more fascinating than a movie monster from Isla Nublar.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Was a bit busy these past couple of days, I was ironing out more of Past Meets Present. But today I decided to do another profile of the most iconic Dromaeosaur on earth.

As far as if this is going to be in PMP, it probably will. I'm still thinking about using this because if I were to go to Cretaceous Mongolia, I'm thinking I'll basically combine both the Flaming Cliffs and Negmt Formations together. I KNOW it's inaccurate considering they are from different regions and different time periods, but both Velociraptor and Protoceratops are the most recognizable dinosaurs from Mongolia. And yeah, I could use its cousin, Adasaurus but it's basically around the size of Deinonychus and I'm rescuing it in the next episode when I target Cloverly. Plus, I'd be stupid to not include them in a Cretaceous Mongolian chapter. It'd the equivalent of going to the Serengeti but and not having any Wildebeest.

I did make a slight modification to hide the teeth in the skull and put them behind the lips. Other than that, it's virtually identical to Lgcfm and Ulquiorra's animal, which they did a damn great job on.

Original model and skin made by Ulquiorra and Lgcfm respectively:
Velociraptor (Lgcfm & Ulquiorra) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom

For Past Meets Present:
Past Meets Present (Pt4 is Up) - The ZT2 Round Table

Description
Velociraptor mongoliensis

The most famous of all the dromaeosaurids, the swift thief itself, Velociraptor mongoliensis.

History and Discovery:

Discovered in 1923 during an expedition to Mongolia, the original find consisted of a nearly complete (albeit crushed) skull, disassociated teeth, and a finger. In 1924, it was described by paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn dubbed the animal, Velociraptor meaning "swift seizer". However, for most of the 20th century, these animals were relatively obscure. Partially because the animal was incomplete, but also because the same year it was described, Mongolia became a communist country. Many finds of Velociraptor in the intervening years were discovered only by the USSR, Mongolia, and states from the Warsaw Pact. Very few westerners could analyze the remains with their Eastern-Bloc counterparts.
For many years, the only fossils in the West were the holotype skull. It was put in a museum display case in the American Museum of Natural for more than 6 decades. And few cared about it. It was just a skull of a weird-looking dinosaur from Mongolia. Why look at that when you could look at the T.rex?

Jurassic Park:

But in 1993, this animal was catapulted from obscurity to celebrity after the hit movie Jurassic Park hit movie theatres. It was the culmination of the Dinosaur Renaissance which forever changed the images of dinosaurs to the public. The Raptor villains of Jurassic Park made Velociraptor and Dromaeosaurs icons the world over.
However, the film and novel made them massive 6ft tall, 9ft long, and 350lb, pack-hunting dromaeosaurs. The infamous sickle claw was >6 inches in length, triple the size of the regular claw, used to slice open prey, extremely fast runners, and they made them hyper-intelligent animals.

Michael Crichton stated that the raptors from both the book and the film were based on Deinonychus of Early Cretaceous North America in terms of size, proportions, and snout shape. In fact, in the book, Dr.Alan Grant states that "Deinonychus is now considered one of the velociraptors".
Crichton probably came up with that sentence when Gregory S. Paul tried to lump Deinonychus into the Velociraptor around the time the book version of Jurassic Park was published. However, this is now viewed to be inaccurate for a variety of reasons from their differing morphology, their different locations, and habitats, as well as the time period these animals lived.
Another reason Crichton chose the name Velociraptor over Deinonychus is that he thought that the former's name sounded more dramatic. However, even then, both species came nowhere close to the size that Crichton or Spielberg showed on the page or in the film. Both parties probably came up with the man-sized dinosaur because they needed something to look and act intimidating, and they succeeded in spades.

Description and Appearance:

In reality, Velociraptor stood no taller than a coyote. Around two feet tall and 6 feet long, and it clocked in only at 33lbs. Furthermore, the skull was thinner and less carnosaurian-looking than in the film. With a thin and long snout lined with sharp teeth, it would've looked nothing like its movie counterpart.
They were far from what the Jurassic Park character, Henry Wu described as "big leathery birds". They were far more bird-like than anyone could have imagined.
In 1999, a discovery made in China showed that a basal dromaeosaur, Sinornithosaurus was covered in feathers. Including pronounced pennaceous feathers on its arms, legs, and tail. It was assumed that Velociraptor and its kind may have had feathers as well.
A discovery made in 2007, solidified this theory when paleontologists discovered pronounced quill-knobs on a Velociraptor's ulna. What it told them is that pennaceous feathers lined the arm and likely extended all the way up the arm. They were definitely not used for powered flight, but they could have been used to brood a nest or display. It makes sense considering other bird-like dinosaurs like Oviraptorids have been found in this position with their arms outstretched, brooding their eggs.
This new evidence coupled with the fact that most dromaeosaurs have feathers preserved from China means that Velociraptor was feathered with pronounced pennaceous feathers on its arms. How its tail feathers looked is up for debate. The basal Microraptoria has a fan of tails at the end. However, in the same region where Microraptoria evolved, there was a more derived and ground-dwelling Dromaeosaur Zhenyuanlong. It was similar in size to Velociraptor, and unlike its Microraptorian relatives, had a frond of pennaceous feathers running 4/5ths of the way down the tail before abruptly tapering off. Though no indications have been put forward to tell how the tail feathers looked on the various Dromaeosaurs, so it's really open to debate.

Social Behavior:

Pack hunting is something commonly depicted with Dromaeosaurs. With Raptors supposed higher intelligence, it has long been assumed these were the dogs of the cretaceous. Paleontologists assumed this when Deinonychus teeth were found in association with Tenontosaurus, a large herbivore. The only way they could've taken it down was to hunt together, so it was assumed Velociraptor could have done this as well. However, there actually is no good evidence of mammal-like pack hunting exhibited in raptors. Modern Archosaurs rarely cooperate in hunts and are more akin to a band of marauders than an organized group.
Very few modern land mammals exhibit this behavior as well, and mammals have got more developed brains to help facilitate this.
Velociraptors and other Dromaeosaurs, while they did have larger brains compared to the average theropods in relation to body size, were around as intelligent as an average backyard bird and likely not close to the level some dogs or cats were.
There is only one (possible) piece of evidence suggesting some form of group behavior. Trackways of Dromaeosaurs found in China show around 6 animals similar in size to Velociraptors walking in the same direction and they seem to move at an even pace. However, whether or not this is a family group or just unrelated animals tolerating each other is open to debate.
Without examining living animals, paleontologists will never truly know what kind of social behavior was in play with these unique animals.

Habitat:

Velociraptors evolved around 75,000,000 years ago in Mongolia. At that time, Mongolia actually looked similar to the climate of today. A dry, desert/steppe environment, however, unlike the Mongolian steppes of today, there was no grass in the environment. It shared the environment with the basal ceratopsian Protoceratops, its distant troodontid relative Saurornithoides, Oviraptorids, and small lizards and mammals which were likely its staple food source.

From Killer Claw to Gripping On:

Contrary to depictions showing them using their lethal claw to slash open prey, their infamous claw on the second digit was probably not designed to slice open prey. The tip is pointed and the curve being dull. A study conducted by Phil Manning from the University of Manchester in 2006 shows that while the claw could penetrate flesh, it was too dull to actually rip open the belly.
From re-examining the feet and claws, another theory has been put forward as to how dromaeosaurs killed their prey.
It's now believed that Velociraptor ambushed its prey, and pinning it down under its feet. The dinosaur would then feed upon it while it was still alive until it died of blood loss and organ failure. This hunting method is known as RPR (Raptor Prey Restraint). It's similar to what modern birds of prey employ when killing prey.
It makes sense as well considering the paleofauna in the regions where Velociraptors have been found. Fossil eggs and smaller mammals have been found in the region where Velociraptors have been found. Juvenile dinosaurs and mammals would have been easy prey for this carnivore.
However, a famous find, the "Fighting Dinosaurs" shows a Protoceratops and Velociraptor locked in mortal combat with the basal ceratopsian. Their fight ended probably when a sand-dune collapsed or a landslide occurred burying both of the animals alive.
It tells us that Velociraptors didn't just hunt juvenile dinosaurs, small lizards, or mammals around its size, but animals that could have been up to 8 times its size. It would've been impossible to restrain a large 200+lb Protoceratops using this method, however, they probably didn't need to. In Russia, golden eagles have been documented killing juvenile Sika deer, animals that are over 10 times their weight. They didn't restrain these animals, but they just swooped in on them and dug their talons into their quarry. The pure panic the prey would experience to try and get the animal off would widen the wound and eventually kill it through shock and blood loss.
It's likely Velociraptor tried to do this to the Protoceratops, however, if one examines the fossil, one can see the Protoceratops had the upper hand. Its arm was caught in the Protoceratops' beak. The left sickle claw was also jammed into the throat of the animal. Perhaps the animal tried to jump on the back of the ceratopsian got shaken off and pinned down. In an act of desperation, the Velociraptor tried to sink its sickle claw into the throat to get it free. However, seconds later, they were buried alive. Preserving their remains for over 70,000,000 years.

Speed:

A common depiction of Dromaeosaurs is that they were fast animals. Velociraptor's very name means "swift seizer", so one would assume Velociraptor and its kin would be fast runners. However, the way their feet were structured with thick metatarsals used to crush prey underfoot and their pronounced sickle claw which was always held off the ground meant that while they were powerful and lethal predators, they probably were average to slow ambush hunters. They would not have been capable of chasing down their prey, perhaps only able to manage a brief sprint of 20-30mph before pinning down their quarry.

Velociraptor remains an icon of the dinosaur world. Made famous from Jurassic Park, and now recognizable the world over. However, as recognizable as its movie form is, paleontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts can tell you, the real animal was far more fascinating than a movie monster from Isla Nublar.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Was a bit busy these past couple of days, I was ironing out more of Past Meets Present. But today I decided to do another profile of the most iconic Dromaeosaur on earth.

As far as if this is going to be in PMP, it probably will. I'm still thinking about using this because if I were to go to Cretaceous Mongolia, I'm thinking I'll basically combine both the Flaming Cliffs and Negmt Formations together. I KNOW it's inaccurate considering they are from different regions and different time periods, but both Velociraptor and Protoceratops are the most recognizable dinosaurs from Mongolia. And yeah, I could use its cousin, Adasaurus but it's basically around the size of Deinonychus and I'm rescuing it in the next episode when I target Cloverly. Plus, I'd be stupid to not include them in a Cretaceous Mongolian chapter. It'd the equivalent of going to the Serengeti but and not having any Wildebeest.

I did make a slight modification to hide the teeth in the skull and put them behind the lips. Other than that, it's virtually identical to Lgcfm and Ulquiorra's animal, which they did a damn great job on.

Original model and skin made by Ulquiorra and Lgcfm respectively:
Velociraptor (Lgcfm & Ulquiorra) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom

For Past Meets Present:
Past Meets Present (Pt4 is Up) - The ZT2 Round Table