When Did the Velociraptor Become Extinct?

The Velociraptor became famous from its depiction in Jurassic Park. A fascinating, exciting and fierce dinosaur, it seems that this turkey-size reptile could have lived for millions of years. However, natural events took their course, and this dinosaur become extinct over 65 million years ago. Although it is extinct, there is more to learn about this interesting reptile.

The Velociraptor became extinct during the large Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event which occurred about sixty-five million years ago. This is the same event that is surmised to have resulted in the majority of dinosaur’s extinctions. It was a large-scale extinction of numerous animal and plant species in an extremely short amount of time.

Although there used to be a lot of debate regarding the cause of the dinosaur extinction, it is now almost universally accepted that the first wave of extinctions were due to an asteroid hitting the planet Earth. Scientists have examined fossil records and have been able to determine that non-avian dinosaurs became extinct almost immediately upon the impact of this asteroid.

Currently, scientists agree that the extinction of dinosaurs including the Velociraptor occurred at this point in time, and no dinosaurs survived beyond the asteroid impact.

Description of the Velociraptor

The Velociraptor is a genus of the dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur and ruled the world during the later part of the Cretaceous period. It was smaller than other species of its genus, and was roughly the size of a turkey.

However, do not let the size of this creature fool you. It was bipedal and it was a carnivore. It had a long tail and a significant and sharp claw on each of its feet. It had a long skull, and an upturned snout.

The adults grew as large as two meters long and about half a meter high. They could weigh up to thirty three pounds, and their skulls could grow up to twenty-five centimeters long. Inside their mouths, they had about twenty-six to twenty-eight teeth that were serrated.

The Velociraptor had a large hand with three curved claws. The first claw was the shortest, and the second claw was the longest. This second claw sometimes grew to over two inches long. The claws never faced downward, but due to the bone structure of the dinosaur, always faced inwards. Despite the depiction of the Velociraptor in Jurassic Park, the dinosaur actually had feathers in real life.

The second claw of the Velociraptor is assumed to have been used to fight and fatally wound its prey. Scientists originally surmised that this claw would have been sharp enough to disembowel prey if needed. Now, scientists know that the claw was in fact, not sharp enough to perform this task. The claw was most likely primarily used to injure the organs of the throat.

Discovery of the Velociraptor

The Velociraptor was first discovered in 1922 in the Gobi Desert. Henry Osborn made the complete discovery of this reptile, and also named the dinosaur. The name is Latin, and it translates into “swift robber.” Other fossils of the Velociraptor were discovered throughout Mongolia, as well as parts of China.

Perhaps the most famous fossil of the Velociraptor is known as the “Fighting Dinosaurs” specimen. This fossil was discovered during the Cold War by Soviet and Polish Scientists in Mongolia. The fossil shows a Velociraptor in the middle of a battle with a solitary Protoceratops. It was discovered in 1971. This fossil helped clarify how the Velociraptor uses its claws to fight its prey. Currently, this fossil is considered a national treasure of Mongolia.