Velociraptor mongoliensis

Velociraptor mongoliensis was a lightly built predator of the Djadokhta Formation. It had a long, low skull armed with serrated teeth, grasping three-fingered hands, feathered forelimbs and an enlarged curved claw on each second toe. Quill knobs on a referred forearm demonstrate that large feathers were anchored along the arm. The extraordinary Fighting Dinosaurs pair preserves one Velociraptor entangled with a Protoceratops, providing rare direct evidence of physical interaction between predator and potential prey.

Its fossils occur between approximately 75 and 71 million years ago. Values shown here are approximate and reflect the current curated seed dataset.

The animal balanced over two long hind limbs with a tail reinforced by elongated bony rods and overlapping vertebral processes. Each foot bore an enlarged, strongly curved second-toe claw that was normally held clear of the ground. The hands could grasp but could not rotate palm-down in the mammal-like way often shown in old art. Although no Velociraptor fossil preserves a complete feather outline, quill knobs prove long wing feathers, while close relatives support a feathered body and tail.

• Long, low skull with recurved serrated teeth
• Large second-toe claw held raised from the ground
• Quill knobs anchoring long feathers along the forearm
• Three-fingered grasping hands with inward-facing palms
• Lightweight, bird-like skeleton and long hind limbs
• Tail stiffened by elongated rods and overlapping processes
• Feathered body and tail inferred from close dromaeosaur relatives

Peter C. Kaisen of the American Museum's Central Asiatic Expedition found the crushed but remarkably complete skull AMNH 6515 at the Flaming Cliffs in 1923. Henry Fairfield Osborn named Velociraptor mongoliensis in American Museum Novitates in 1924. The type specimen also included bones from the foot; the large curved claw was initially interpreted as belonging to the hand, before better dromaeosaurid skeletons clarified that it came from the second toe.

Discovery credit: Peter C. Kaisen.

Naming authors: Henry Fairfield Osborn.

V. mongoliensis lived in an arid to semi-arid landscape of wind-blown dunes, sandy flats and intermittent water sources. The Djadokhta ecosystem also supported Protoceratops, the small ceratopsian Bagaceratops, oviraptorosaurs, ankylosaurs, lizards and mammals. Sudden sand-rich burial events helped preserve articulated skeletons, eggs and traces of interactions that are rarely recorded elsewhere.

Velociraptor was an active carnivore capable of tackling small vertebrates and interacting violently with Protoceratops. The enlarged toe claw may have helped grip, pin or puncture struggling prey, but the familiar claim that it routinely disembowelled animals is not directly demonstrated. The Fighting Dinosaurs fossil captures physical contact, although burial and post-mortem movement complicate a frame-by-frame reading of the struggle. No V. mongoliensis fossil demonstrates coordinated pack hunting.

• The holotype AMNH 6515 is principally a skull, not the complete running skeleton often implied by popular reconstructions.
• Six quill knobs on a referred forearm show that Velociraptor carried a row of long wing feathers despite being too large and short-armed for powered flight.
• At roughly two metres long and around fifteen kilograms, the real animal was far smaller than the 'raptors' in Jurassic Park.
• The Fighting Dinosaurs pair was found by a Polish–Mongolian expedition in 1971 and is regarded as a national treasure of Mongolia.
• Its scientific name means 'swift thief', but there is no evidence that Velociraptor specialised in stealing eggs.

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1. 01
   The Paleobiology Database

   Open source
2. 02
   Three new Theropoda, Protoceratops zone, central Mongolia

   Henry Fairfield Osborn · American Museum Novitates 144 · 1924

   Open source
3. 03
   Feather quill knobs in the dinosaur Velociraptor

   Alan H. Turner, Peter J. Makovicky, Mark A. Norell · Science · 2007

   Open source
4. 04
   The Fighting Dinosaurs: The position of their bodies before and after death

   Rinchen Barsbold · Paleontological Journal · 2016

   Open source
5. 05
   Velociraptor Fossil Exhibit

   American Museum of Natural History

   Open source
6. 06
   Velociraptor had feathers, study confirms

   American Museum of Natural History · 2007

   Open source
7. 07
   Fighting Dinosaurs

   American Museum of Natural History

   Open source
8. 08
   Velociraptor facts and information

   Natural History Museum, London

   Open source