Velociraptor
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Velociraptor Conservation status: Fossil
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![]() Velociraptor size compared to a human.
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Scientific classification | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Velociraptor mongoliensis Osborn, 1924 |
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Velociraptor (sometimes called "raptor" for short) was a predatory dinosaur in the Late Cretaceous Period. It was about 1.8 meters long and 0.62 meters tall at the hip, which is about the size of a turkey. It had a sickle-shaped claw on its foot which measured almost 7 centimeters long. Some scientists think that Velociraptor was warm blooded and had feathers, although they have not yet proved that they had feathers.
Fossils of Velociraptors were first found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in 1922. In 1988, scientists from China found Velociraptor skeletons in northern China. One of the most famous Velociraptors discovered in 1971 was found attacking a Protoceratops in a fossil from Mongolia. Films such as Jurassic Park and several of the The Land Before Time films helped make Velociraptor popular.