Velociraptors I Have Known and Loved Quiz

Answer: 1924

The first specimens of Velociraptor were discovered in 1924 by a group of American palaeontologists visiting Mongolia's Gobi Desert. However, it was unclear what type of dinosaur Velociraptor was until the 1964 discovery of its larger relative, Deinonychus.

Answer: Dromaeosaurs

Commonly called raptors, the Dromaeosaurs were among the fastest and most intelligent dinosaurs. They had excellent vision, long arms with grasping hands and what is often referred to as a 'killing claw' on the second toe of each foot. They ranged in size from the metre-long Bambiraptor to the eight-metre-long Megaraptor.

Answer: True

Both were discovered in Mongolia. The first, Velociraptor mongoliensis, was found in 1924. The second species, Velociraptor osmolskae, wasn't discovered until 2008.

Answer: Dr. John Ostrom

Dr. John Ostrom and his assistant were on the final day of a expedition in southern Montana in 1964 when they discovered the relatively complete skeletons of four Deinonychus lying beside the twenty-foot-long skeleton of Tenontosaurus. The association of predator and prey led to Dr. Ostrom's suggestion that raptors may have been pack-hunters.

Answer: 60kph

Over a short distance, palaeontologists believe Velociraptor may have been able to run at about 60kph.

Answer: intelligence and body size

For a start, their intelligence was exaggerated. While raptors were smart, it's unlikely that their IQ was high enough for them to figure out how to use a door handle.

However, the most obvious difference is their body size. The movie raptors were shown as being the same height as a man, thus making them seem more frightening. In fact, real Velociraptors stood no more than three feet tall, about the size of the average dog. What most people don't know is that, while 'Jurassic Park' was still being filmed, palaeontologists in Wyoming discovered the remains of Utahraptor, which was roughly the same size as the movie raptors.

The other two differences are the shape of the head (it should be long and narrow) and the flexibility of the tail (it should be stiff not bendy).

Answer: swift robber

Velociter is the Latin word for swift while raptor is the Latin word for robber. Put these two words together and you get Velociraptor.

Troodon means wounding tooth, Deinonychus means terrible claw and Baryonyx means heavy claw.

Answer: no-one knows

Fossilized skin gives us a good idea of what dinosaurs looked like on the outside. Unfortunately, the pigments that make up the colour of the skin don't fossilize, so scientists can only guess what colours dinosaurs might have been.

There's also evidence to suggest that raptors had feathers.

Answer: Late Cretaceous

More commonly called 'The Age of Dinosaurs', the Mesozoic Era ran for 160 million years and was made up of three separate time periods: the Triassic, the Jurassic and the Cretaceous.

Velociraptor lived in Mongolia during the late Cretaceous between 70 and 80 million years ago.

Answer: True

In 1971 palaeontologists on a joint Polish-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert discovered the skeleton of a Velociraptor entangled around the skeleton of the small horned dinosaur, Protoceratops. Both dinosaurs appeared to have died at the same time, although how is unclear.