Sensory Damage Velociraptor

Everyone knows I have a soft spot for this dinosaur, the Velociraptor. And they get a bad rap, as far as I’m concerned. But if you imprint early enough, you can make real connections with them. Other than Claire, raptors are the most intelligent partners I’ve ever had… and like her, they could kill me in the blink of an eye. That’s a joke.— Owen Grady

Velociraptor earned its fearsome reputation not from its size — it measured only about 2 metres in length, and was overshadowed by far larger, less intimidating dinosaurs — but from its ferocity and its intelligence. Equipped with sharp teeth and a sickle-shaped claw on each foot, it was an exceptionally efficient predator, primarily targeting herbivores such as Protoceratops. Its limited strength, though, made it unlikely to take on anything larger or heavily armoured.

The first Velociraptor was discovered in 1923 by Peter Kaisen, during an American Museum of Natural History expedition to the Gobi Desert in Outer Mongolia. Kaisen unearthed a complete skull and a toe claw, which were sent back to Henry Fairfield Osborn in New York. The specimen was named Velociraptor — “swift plunderer” — in reference to its speed and its predatory behaviour.

Fossils of Velociraptor have been found only within the Djadochta Formation in Mongolia, which places the genus in the region roughly 70 to 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous. The climate at the time was desert-like, so Velociraptor would have gravitated towards the streams and rivers where its prey gathered in search of vegetation.