fbpx

KidsKonnect

Velociraptor Facts & Worksheets

The Velociraptor is a sickle-clawed dinosaur that flourished in central and eastern Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to 65 million years ago).

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /Science /Animals /Dinosaurs /Velociraptor Facts & Worksheets
Premium
Velociraptor Worksheets
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

The Velociraptor is a sickle-clawed dinosaur that flourished in central and eastern Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to 65 million years ago).

See the fact file below for more information on the Velociraptor or alternatively, you can download our 25-page Velociraptor worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

DISCOVERY

  • On August 11, 1923, Peter Kaisen recovered the first Velociraptor fossil during an American Museum of Natural History expedition at Djadochta Formation, in the Mongolian province of Ömnögovi.
  • In 1924, the president of the American Museum of Natural History, Henry Fairfield Osborn, named the specimen “Velociraptor”.
  • This name is derived from the Latin words “velox” (swift) and “raptor” (robber or plunderer), describing its agility and carnivorous diet.
  • Then, between 1988 and 1990, a joint Chinese-Canadian team discovered Velociraptor remains in northern China, which was followed by a joint Mongolian-American expedition to the Gobi the same year.

DESCRIPTION

  • Based on evidence gathered, adult Velociraptors grew up to 6.8 feet (2 meters) long and 1.6 feet (0.5 meter) tall at the hip, and they weighed up to 33 pounds (15 kilograms).
  • Its skull was about 9.1 inches (23 centimeters) long, concave on the upper surface and convex on the lower surface, with 13 to 15 teeth in its upper jaw and 14 to 15 teeth in its lower jaw.
  • Its hard, fused bones were inflexible, which helped maintain balance as it ran, hunted, and jumped.
  • Initially believed to be featherless, researchers found that a Velociraptor mongoliensis fossil had quill knobs, or bumps along its forearm that anchor feather quills to the bone. These are common in modern birds.
  • Despite having feathers, however, the arms of Velociraptors were too short to allow them to fly or even glide, and the Velociraptor’s wishbone wasn’t the right shape to support flapping wings.
  • It is believed that the Velociraptor retained its feathers mainly to attract mates, regulate body temperature, protect eggs from the environment, or generate thrust and speed while running up inclines.

BEHAVIOR AND DIET

  • The Velociraptor was a carnivore that may have hunted reptiles, amphibians, insects, small dinosaurs, and mammals.
  • Scientists theorized that Velociraptors were nocturnal, as their scleral ring was wide and would have let in enough light to see at night.
  • Its endocranium also indicates that it was able to detect and hear a wide range of sound frequencies between 2,368–3,965 Hz to effectively track prey with ease.
  • Scientists also discovered that they were scavengers.
  • Because of their hunting instincts and presence of feathers, they are considered to be somewhat warm-blooded.
  • However, bone growth rates in dromaeosaurids suggests moderate metabolism rates compared to modern mammals and birds.
  • Like the “Fighting Dinosaurs”, other unearthed Velociraptor fossils unearthed were found in arid sand dune environments.

VELOCIRAPTOR IN POPULAR CULTURE

  • In the Jurassic Park Universe, “Velociraptor” is applied to the genus of another dromaeosaurid dinosaur known as Deinonychus, which serves as the model for the “raptor” dinosaurs in the movie.
  • The movie appearance was designed by Gregory S. Paul, then sized up by author Michael Crichton and director Steven Spielberg.
  • They are also portrayed as being highly intelligent and capable of setting traps and communicating with other pack members. Apart from scientific evidence, this behavior and intelligence is based on the size of their brains.
  • Velociraptors in the Jurassic world are often seen hunting in packs, which it may have done in real life.
  • Velociraptors are also popular in various video games, such as Chaos Island: The Lost World, Jurassic Park Dinosaur Battles, Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues, Jurassic Park Interactive, Jurassic Park III: Danger Zone!, and many others.
  • These raptors are the common enemies in most of the games, and their sizes are rather large. In real life, however, Velociraptors were around the size of a turkey, considerably smaller than the approximately 6.5-foot (2m) tall and 180-pound (80kg) reptiles seen on-screen.

THE WORLD THEY LIVED IN

  • Velociraptors lived on Earth with a climate that was generally warmer and more humid than today.
  • The polar regions were free of continental ice sheets, and the land was instead covered by forest.
  • Placental mammals, such as rodents, cats, whales, cows, and primates, evolved during the Late Cretaceous.
  • Flying reptiles called Pterosaurs dominated the skies, while taller dinosaurs, such as Argentinosaurus and Dreadnoughtus, lived and died.
  • Close to the end of the Cretaceous Period, the dinosaurs perished, including the Velociraptor, but plant life survived. Scientists are still researching as to why they went extinct.

Velociraptor Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Velociraptor across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Velociraptor worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Velociraptor which is a sickle-clawed dinosaur that flourished in central and eastern Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to 65 million years ago).

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Velociraptor Facts
  • The Cretaceous Dinos
  • The Hunters
  • The Velociraptor
  • The Paleontologist
  • Raptor Time
  • End of Age
  • The Velocrostic
  • The “Raptor”
  • The Velomaze
  • Word Generator

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Velociraptor Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, January 3, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources