Velociraptor (novel canon)

Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 83 to 70 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period. Due in large part to its prominent role in the Jurassic Park motion picture series, Velociraptor (commonly shortened to "raptor") is one of the most familiar dinosaur genera among the general public. It is also well-known to paleontologists, with over a dozen recovered fossil skeletons - the most of any dromaeosaurid.

One particularly famous specimen shows a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops. The "raptors" portrayed in the Jurassic Park movies were modelled after a slightly larger relative, Deinonychus, which some scientists at the time called Velociraptor antirrhopus.

The paleontologists in the film and the novel excavate a Velociraptor skeleton in Montana, where Deinonychus fossils would be found, far from the central Asian range of Velociraptor. A character in Crichton's novel also states that "...Deinonychus is now considered one of the velociraptors," indicating that Crichton used this taxonomy, though the "raptors" in the novel are referred to as V. mongoliensis.