The dinosaurs that we popularly consider the most terrifying are the “velociraptors”. They are dinosaurs of the theropod group (a group that includes all carnivorous dinosaurs) of graceful bearing, medium to small size, and provided with terrifying claws , who lived in what is now Asia during the Upper Cretaceous (about 75 to 70 million years). Their fame as bloody killers is due to their popularization as killing machines in the movie Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequels. Although in the latest installments of this saga more emphasis is placed on their intelligence and the possibility of being trained as if they were dogs. But which of these characteristics of the film raptors are based on your scientific knowledge? What were these dinosaurs really like?
In the movies we see some large raptors, about 2 meters tall. But the truth is that if we take a look at the known skeletons of Velociraptor , these dinosaurs measured at most 1.8 meters long, and 0.5 m at the hip. What is the reason for this increase in size?
Traditionally, the size of the raptors in the Jurassic Park saga has been excused by saying that they were enlarged to make them more threatening… but taking a look at the concept art designs for the first installment, Velociraptor is sometimes labeled as Deinonychus .
The great paleoillustrator Gregory S. Paul published his famous book “ Predatory Dinosaurs of the World ” in 1988. The book was a true revolution, since Paul dared to draw theropods with feathers long before he had solid evidence from the fossil record. In the same book, Paul grouped Deinonychus antirrhopus and Velociraptor mongoliensis in the same genus, Velociraptor , with Velociraptor antirrhopus coming into play as a new name for Deinonychus . And writer Michael Crichton, in writing the original Jurassic Park novel, was inspired by the work of various paleontologists… including Paul. In fact, in the novel you can read a passage in which Dr. Alan Grant explains to Tim that Deinonychus are considered Velociraptors. Crichton thus describes “his Velociraptors” as 2 meters tall, and with all the characteristics of Deinonychus .
However, this proposal did not catch on in the paleontological community, since both genera are considered too different to be grouped in this way. In fact, in his sequel The Lost World , Crichton already describes raptors as 1.80 meters long, once again describing a classic Velociraptor mongoliensis . However, for the Jurassic Park movie, the velociraptors were made following that first description, and this aspect has been maintained until today, maintaining a certain coherence or cinematographic canon. And, who is scarier? A tall raptor like a person? Or one that rivals your dog in size? Interestingly, the term “raptor” has been popularized in popular science to refer to the group that includes Velociraptor , Deinonychus and other relatives, the Dromeosaurs.
But this is not the only thing that has changed in all this time. Although Paul was a bold visionary and drew feathers everywhere, the abundant finds of feather -marked theropod dinosaurs were not discovered until the mid-1990s. And these finds have forever changed the face of many carnivorous dinosaurs. And yes, the Dromeosaurs or raptors are one of those groups. In several members of the group of raptors discovered in the Chinese site of Liaoning, covert feathers (those that cover the body), remige feathers (those that the birds hold in their arms, forming their wings) and straight or tail feathers (those that birds have on their tail). Following a criterion of minimal change (because nature tends to be very conservative for the anatomy of closely related species), this suggests that these feathers would be present in the entire group. And this hypothesis is further strengthened by the fact that in “sister” groups (other families that are related to raptors) feathers also appear!
The definitive confirmation that our feared and admired Velociraptor had feathers came with research published in the journal Science . This publication explained how in many current birds, the ulna (our ulna, forearm bone) has a series of small bumps that mark the place where the main remige feathers of the wing are inserted. And those same little bumps were found on Velociraptor ‘s forearm! So yes, Velociraptor had feathers .
And what about his intelligence? Everything seems to indicate that the dinosaurs with the largest brain volume would not be the dromaeosaurs, but rather very close relatives of theirs, and therefore also feathered, called ” troodontids “. And that these could become as intelligent as some birds. From there to that they could be trained, there is a stretch. Let’s consider it as one more license from the world of cinema.
Much has changed since 1993 and those terrifying kidnappers that stalked Lex and Tim in the kitchen of the Isla Nublar Visitor Center. But the velociraptors in the saga have shown little change. At least, in recent installments of the saga they have recognized that their dinosaurs are not real due to their condition of being transgenic clones, with a mixture of DNA from other animals. And that his appearance would be very different if his DNA were pure. Will we finally see feathered raptors in the next Jurassic World Dominion installment? The new trailer for this sixth installment of the saga was recently released and in it we can finally see feathered dinosaurs. And among them, Pyroraptor , a close relative of Velociraptor . Something to celebrate, since this saga is partly responsible for these animals being so popular, and with them, the science of Paleontology.
References :
Osborn, HF 1924a. Three new Theropoda, Protoceratops zone, central Mongolia. American Museum Novitates , 144: 1-12.
Xu, X.; Norell, MA 2006. Non-Avian dinosaur fossils from the Lower Cretaceous Jehol Group of western Liaoning, China. Geological Journal, 41 (3–4): 419-437.
Turner, Makovicky; Norell. 2007. Feather quill knobs in the dinosaur Velociraptor . Science, doi:10.1126/science.1145076.
Russell, DA; Séguin, R. 1982. Reconstruction of the small Cretaceous theropod Stenonychosaurus inequalis and a hypothetical dinosauroid. Syllogeus , 37, 1-43.
Paul, G. 1988. Predatory dinosaurs of the world . New York, Simon and Schuster, 464 p.
