Overview
Velociraptor was a small but exceptionally clever predatory dinosaur. Covered in feathers and roughly the size of a turkey, it hunted small prey in the deserts of what is now Mongolia. The curved sickle-claw on each foot was held off the ground while running — a precision weapon for pinning struggling prey.
Key fact
Was actually turkey-sized and fully feathered — nothing like the 2-metre monsters in Jurassic Park.
Did you know?
- Its sickle claw was used to pin prey, not to slash — more like a cat's dewclaw.
- Evidence of quill knobs on fossils confirms it had feathers like a bird.
- A famous fossil shows a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops.
- Relative to body size, it had one of the largest brains of any dinosaur.