Velociraptor

Velociraptor
Background information
Feature films	Dinosaur The Good Dinosaur
Television programs	The Legend of Tarzan
Park attractions	Dinosaur (Disney's Animal Kingdom attraction)
Characteristics
Occupation and niche	Theropod
Natural abilities	Speed, agility
Weapons	Sharp claws, fangs

Velociraptors ("speedy thief") were dinosaurs that lived in the Cretaceous Period of Mongolia and China, Asia. The dinosaur was made popular by the 1993 film Jurassic Park, and they also appear as the quaternary antagonists of Disney's 2000 CGI film Dinosaur and antagonists in The Good Dinosaur and in the episode from TV series The Legend of Tarzan.

Personality

Although they are antagonists, they are aggressive hunters who need food to survive, but they have no malicious intent. They just care about feeding themselves in order to survive, though this doesn’t make them much villainous.

Appearances

Dinosaur

As Aladar and the lemurs walk through the barren wasteland, they see a Velociraptor go by, Aladar and the lemurs became curious on what it is and decide to check it out. When they find it, the raptor snarls at them, and soon seven others appear and start chasing them. They soon ran away when the herd, led by Kron, came by. After Aladar walked the opposite direction of the herd, he and the lemurs looked at the herd. Yar was about to convince Aladar not to be in the herd until Zini spots the Velociraptors, whereupon Aladar and his family then decide to join the herd for protection against the raptors. Although very dangerous, the raptors are not seen as a major threat by the adult dinosaurs in the herd, as Eema tells Aladar that they are the only predators following them.

Later as the herd migrates to find some water, Aladar sees one of the dinosaurs, Struthiomimus has died of exhaustion and some Velociraptors coming near by and there were three of them only. With no choice on helping the dead dinosaur, Aladar decides to keep on going, as the raptors soon start to feast on it. A little later, when Eema collapsed, Aladar told her that she must get up without getting eaten, and that the raptors are out there, waiting. However, the Velociraptors have already eaten their fill. Suddenly, two Carnotaurus come and scare them away. They are not seen again for the remainder of the movie.

Disney Parks

Velociraptor at Walt Disney World.

A Velociraptor appears on the ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom, DINOSAUR. It is seen right after the riders see the Parasaurolophus. It is identified as "Raptor".

Trivia

Utahraptor concept art by Ricardo Delgado.

• The Velociraptors in Dinosaur were originally supposed to have feathers. David Krentz said that the feathered were to be "like a little band of Indians with the alpha male having a feather crown that looked almost a headdress." Originally, when Aladar encounters them, he would not know what to make of the raptors appearance and their exotic appeal would have lead Aladar into the raptors' trap. According to director Eric Leighton the computer animators were not sure how they could create the feathers and the studio did not want to get married to a process that the animators were not sure they could deliver on a budget. Krentz noted that there was a feather shader that could have been applied to the Velociraptors, but further stated, "It would have been a lot of extra work on an already difficult movie."
  • Ironically, this initial design would have been more accurate to real life. In 2007, a Velociraptor forearm with bumps for feather attachment was discovered, confirming that Velociraptor did in fact have feathers. Prior to this discovery, fossils of Velociraptor's smaller relatives, Microraptor and Sinornithosaurus, are shown with impressions of feathers.
• Although they lack feathers, the Velociraptors in Dinosaur are otherwise more accurate to the real animal than the ones that appear in The Legend of Tarzan, which are based on those in the non-Disney film Jurassic Park.
  • The Velociraptors in The Legend of Tarzan are much larger than real Velociraptors, and have short, blunt snouts--a trait that the real Velociraptor did not possess. Like the ones in Dinosaur, they are featherless.
• At one point, when the Velociraptor was still feathered, the raptor pack was going to consist of only one Velociraptor, a Avimimus and Garudimimus.
• In the early stages of the production of Dinosaur, Utahraptor, Velociraptor's larger and lesser known cousin, was originally planned to co-star in the film with its smaller relative. But ultimately, only the more popular Velociraptor made it to the final cut.  
• A famous fossil exists of a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops (a smaller, distant cousin to Triceratops). Called the "Fighting Dinosaurs", the two were preserved by either a sandstorm or a collapsing sand dune, with the Velociraptor using its deadly foot claws to kill the Protoceratops and the Protoceratops biting the Velociraptor's arm.  
• Examination of Velociraptor's eyes indicates that the dinosaur was nocturnal, much like owls.
• In reality, Velociraptor lacked crests unlike those seen in Dinosaur.
• The film uses vocals recorded from a crew member's pet chihuahua.
• The blue bigger Velociraptor is most likely the leader of the pack.
  • It's very possible that the blue-crested Velociraptor is male while the other members of the pack are females (likely his harem).

External links

• For information on the real dinosaur, click here: [1]

v - e - d

Media Dinosaur (soundtrack/video) • Disney's Dinosaur • Dinosaur Activity Center • Dinosaur Song Factory Disney Parks Dinosaur Fireworks: Tree of Life Awakens • Wonderful World of Animation • Wondrous Journeys Characters Aladar • Aladar's Mother • Baylene • Bruton • Eema • Kron • Neera • Plio • Suri • Url • Yar • Zini • Albertosaurus • Ankylosaurus • Baby Parasaurolophus • Brachiosaurus • Carnotaurus • Ichthyornis • Iguanodon • Oviraptor • Pachyrhinosaurus • Parasaurolophus • Pteranodon • Spinosaurus • Styracosaurus • Velociraptor Deleted: Tyrannosaurus rex • Triceratops • Corythosaurus • Ornithomimus • Tylosaurus Locations Nesting Grounds • Lemur Island • List of Locations used in Disney's Dinosaur