Pyroraptor

"'Ooh, ah,' that's how it always starts. But then later there's running and screaming."

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Pyroraptor is the first positively identified member of the dromaeosaurid (raptor) family found in Europe. It was a small, fast hunter that lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs. The specimen is known from only a few bones (which were discovered after a forest fire), but they are enough to give scientists a good idea of what this little dinosaur would have looked like. Some paleontologists believe it would have closely resembled the small, bird-like dinosaurs recently discovered in China.

Pyroraptor was found associated with fossils representing a number of other creatures, including the iguanodont Rhabdodon, a nodosaur Struthiosaurus, a titanosaur Ampelosaurus and Titanosaurus, a ceratopsian, the abelisaurid Tarascosaurus and some Late Cretaceous reptiles.

The origin of the dromaeosaurs has long been debated. A number of prominent scientists believe they originated in North America, possibly the area that was adjacent to Europe in the very Early Cretaceous.^[1]

There has been scientific debate whether Pyroraptor is a juvenile specimen of another dromaeosaur that lived alongside it, Variraptor, although the two dromaeosaur species had differing ulnas. There is also debate on which subfamily Pyroraptor belonged to within dromaeosauridae; some have classified it as a dromaeosaurine, velociraptorine, or a unenlagiine (a subfamily of dromaeosaurids sometimes classified to be their own distinct group closer to birds). However, this currently remains unclear until more specimens are discovered.

Physical Abilities[]

Pyroraptor possessed a suite of adaptations allowing it to thrive in harsh, cold environments. Its feathered coat provided insulation, enabling it to withstand blizzards, while webbed feet facilitated movement through both snow and frigid water. This likely allowed it to pursue prey in diverse habitats, including aquatic and snow-covered terrain, and even briefly submerge its snout.

Despite its resilience, Pyroraptor demonstrated a cautious nature when confronted by multiple, coordinated predators like Atrociraptor. The encounter suggested a capacity for recognizing and responding to calculated threats, even when those threats were restrained.

Furthermore, Pyroraptor exhibited a strong homing instinct, potentially driven by a need for shelter or familiarity in the face of environmental stress. When faced with overwhelming odds and severe weather, it appeared to prioritize returning to a known, presumably safer location.

Characteristics[]

The cloned Pyroraptor measures 2.43 meters (8 feet) in length, 1.69 meters (3.57 feet) in height, and weighs 190 pounds, making it slightly smaller than Atrociraptor and Velociraptor, but larger than its natural ancestor. Its primary coloration is red, with gray gradations extending to the peripheral regions of its limbs, body, and caudal fan, and its skin is covered in gray scales. Distinguishing features include ridges on its rostrum, slit-shaped eyes, and a crest of red feathers on the occipital region. The Pyroraptor is predominantly feathered, with exceptions including its facial region, ventral surface, and distal portions of its limbs. As a semi-aquatic species, it primarily inhabits the ice-covered lake, utilizing its limbs to propel itself through the water with remarkable agility.

In paleontology, it is still not confirmed if it actually can swim.

Behavior[]

A small, aggressive Pyroraptor, has been observed displaying a range of predatory behaviors in cold environments, potentially in Italy or Malta, and within the BioSyn Sanctuary. It exhibits a notable adaptability to snowy conditions, utilizing blizzards for cover and deep snow for hunting advantages.

This creature has demonstrated a willingness to attack vehicles, leaping onto a car hood in a display of aggression. It has also shown predatory behavior towards humans, including a potential canine kill and subsequent attack on a human in a residential setting. Its hunting strategies extend to ambushing young ankylosaurs, exhibiting stealth in darkened areas or when it in the road in a snow forest it ambushed a Giant Locust and eat it showing that it has a insectivorous behavior.

In the BioSyn Sanctuary, the same or similar individuals have been observed hunting on a frozen lake. They display an understanding of ice stability, adapting their attack strategy by diving into the water and swimming underneath the ice. This indicates an ability to hold its breath for extended periods and utilize aquatic environments for hunting. It has been seen targeting humans in both terrestrial and aquatic chases, demonstrating a persistent and adaptable predatory nature.

Whether these observations pertain to a single individual or multiple Pyroraptors remains unclear. Additionally, the social dynamics of these creatures are uncertain, as they are primarily observed as solitary hunters, despite potential encounters with others of their kind.

History[]

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory[]

Season 3[]

In the middle of a snowstorm, the Pyroraptor attacks Gia's car as Darius and Kenji are driving before running off. Neither get a good look at the dinosaur, but Ben later finds one of the Pyroraptor's feathers in the radiator's grill.^[2]

Later, the Pyroraptor kills an Italian man named Vito and possibly his dog Arturo while the Nublar Five try to figure out what it is because, as far as they know, no one has created a feathered dinosaur yet.^[3]

Not long after, the Pyroraptor's presence in the local village causes it to be evacuated. The Nublar Five, Gia and Nonna search the village for Smoothie the Ankylosaurus who spots the Pyroraptor rumaging in some garbage and is nearly eaten before Nonna saves him, apparently scaring the dinosaur off by yelling at it. However, the Handler's Atrociraptor pack -- which caused the Pyroraptor to back up -- emerges and ignores the Nublar Five, focusing on the Pyroraptor with Nonna and Smoothie caught in between. Ben and Kenji risk their lives to get Nonna and Smoothie to safety as the raptors face off with the Pyroraptor being outmatched and outnumbered. Two containment vans arrive along with the Handler who has the pack herd the Pyroraptor into one of the vans. As the Handler and the Atrociraptors leave in the other one, Darius notices that Biosyn's name is on the side of it, revealing that Biosyn was behind the Pyroraptor's creation.^[4]

Later, while on the road, the trapped Pyroraptor escapes after the containment van crashes^[5] due to a Giant Locust popping the left front tire.^[6]

When Gia, Sammy, and Kenji spot the van on their way to the airport and investigate, the Pyroraptor catches and eats the giant locust that caused the van to crash. While the dinosaur is distracted eating, Sammy and Kenji sneak into Gia's car and hide, but the noise of the doors closing and locking draws the Pyroraptor's attention. The Pyroraptor investigates the car, circling around it, banging its head against the window and jumping on top of it. However, after failing to detect the frightened occupants, the dinosaur leaves in the other direction. Gia realizes that the Pyroraptor is headed back to town and the three decide to go after it.^[6]

Sammy, Kenji and Gia chase after the Pyroraptor with the map on the tablet that Sammy found in the Biosyn containment van confirming that it's heading towards town. Gia spots one of the Pyroraptor's feathers, confirming that they're on the right trail, but Sammy is concerned that it's not going to be as easy Kenji hopes. Stopping the car, Sammy, Kenji, Gia and Smoothie follow a trail of feathers left behind by the dinosaur on foot to an active ski slope where they find the dinosaur stalking the skiers. The Pyroraptor dives under the snow and Gia spots a nearby building with a PA system that she can use to warn everyone. Still needing to find the Pyroraptor and lead it away, Kenji leaves Smoothie with Gia while he and Sammy use snowmobiles to stop the Pyroraptor from hurting anyone. Kenji proposes that they use the snowmobiles to lead the Pyroraptor away and then race to the airport to catch their plane. The two manage to get the vehicles started and race away as the owner tries to stop them.

Gia tries to activate the PA system to warn the skiers of the danger while Sammy and Kenji race down the slope in snowmobiles yelling out warnings. The two see the Pyroraptor attack a man on a sled who manages to get away and chase after it. Gia finally resorts to kicking the control box to get it to work and broadcasts a warning about the dinosaur in Italian, causing everyone to flee. Sammy and Kenji place themselves between the Pyroraptor and the fleeing people with Sammy ramming it with her snowmobile at one point in order to save a woman's life. The Pyroraptor dives beneath the snow to attack them from behind, forcing Sammy from her snowmobile, but Kenji repeatedly cuts it off and forces the dinosaur back up the mountain. Sammy and Kenji successfully chase the Pyroraptor out of the area, but it causes an avalanche on the way out, eventually burying Sammy and Kenji.^[7]

After being rescued from the snow, Sammy discovers that they are close to Biosyn Valley and the group figures that the Pyroraptor returned home after being scared off. Gia guesses that it must have bad security if a dinosaur was able to escape so easily.^[8]

Jurassic World: Dominion[]

"Nope!"

—Kayla Watts when the Pyroraptor dove through the ice and into the water^(src)

Pyroraptor was cloned by Biosyn and released to live within their sanctuary. The escaped individual that Sammy and Kenji drove off made it atop the frozen lake held behind the valley's dam. After Owen Grady and Kayla Watts crashed landed into the lake, they encountered the Pyroraptor as they attempted to move towards the dam. The Pyroraptor slowly moved towards the pair, but as the ice cracked further beneath their weight it used a hole within the ice to dive underwater, circling them at first and pursuing them when they ran. During the pursuit, Owen fell through a hole in the ice, but before the Pyroraptor could reach him Kayla managed to pull him out. With that the Pyroraptor burst from the hole and attempted to run down Kayla and Owen, with all three climbing onto a walkway on the dam and racing towards an elevator. Owen and Kayla managed to get into the elevator and shut it on the Pyroraptor, who clawed at the door even after being tazed by Kayla and the elevator beginning its descent.

Following the Biosyn incident and the area itself being declared a sanctuary, it is possible that other Pyroraptors are in the sanctuary as well as out in the world somewhere.

Appearances[]

In chronological order:[]

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory[]

Season 3[]

Jurassic World: Dominion[]

Gallery[]

Promotional Images[]

Jurassic World: Dominion[]

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory[]

Trivia[]

The red color of the Pyroraptor's feathers could be a reference or is influenced by Pod the Pyroraptor from the four-part documentary series Dinosaur Planet.
- Its coloring also brings to mind Fawkes the Phoenix from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, perhaps because phoenixes are associated with fire and Pyroraptor literally means "fire thief".
The Pyroraptor's bare face, with pink and dark skin, is reminiscent of the northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita).
The Pyroraptor is the fourth predator in the cinematic franchise who's shown to swim in order to hunt its prey, predated by the Spinosaurus, the Mosasaurus and the Nothosaurus, as well as the second dinosaur who could do so.
For the Pyroraptor, the sound effects of wild cats (such as a leopard and a mountain lion) can be heard most of the time.
The gender of Pyroraptor is never mentioned or spoken of in the film. But in the Dinosaur information book of Jurassic World: Dominion, Pyroraptor is referred to with a female pronoun.
The Pyroraptor is the first feathered dinosaur that's known to have been cloned by anyone.
It was relieved in Chaos Theory, that this was the very first of its species.

Behind the Scenes[]

Jurassic World: Dominion's visual effects supervisor at ILM, Dan Snape, knew early on there were going to be feathered dinosaurs and had his team start looking at a new feather system that would be flexible, efficient, and creative enough to change. Once the script landed, Dan spoke with David Vickery, the senior visual effects supervisor and production visual effects supervisor on Jurassic World: Dominion, and was informed on the environmental challenges that would accompany the Pyroraptor's scene. ILM had previously had challenges with feathers, such as being unable to iterate them quickly. In order to more efficiently do this, the new feather system allowed the groom artists to quickly scatter place guides for the quills across the model. The artists could then assign the types of feathers they wanted onto the place guides they were needed in.

The feathers themselves were created with a system that created the quill and then added barbules along either side of it, the artists could then break them up and shape them to create proxy geometry when needed, and then create a texture and propagate it along the feather where needed. These feathers were then saved for use in other departments and on other areas of the model. Multiple different feather types were used for the Pyroraptor, including the large feather crest on its head, traditional wing feathers, and softer downy feathers between the joints. From there, they had to discuss how the feathers would interact with each other, and built an automatic detangling system, which separated the feathers and settled them on the animal's back to give it a flat feather look.

When discussing the silhouette of the dinosaur, they referenced birds, which would have body parts that are noticeably sleeker than other areas which were more "fluffed up". In line with this, the team built a "flattening zone" into the feather system to flatten and push the curvature of the feathers. This allowed them to get less gaps between the feathers and quickly generate a greyscale feahter version to present for feedback.

The environmental effects were a big challenge for ILM, and was left to the FX department. Water covering the feathers was another challenge, so the team took reference from birds and seals exiting the water to see how water forms over them as they did so. The feather system was adjusted accordingly with these references to show the moments of meniscus water breaking and spraying.^[9]

In order to reference how lighting and weather would affect the Pyroraptor, John Nolan Studios created a reference of the Pyroraptor's head, first by building a sculpt of the head and then creating thousands of feathers, hand dying them, and then woven into a net that stretched over the silicon skin of the model. The day the Pyroraptor's scene was filmed, it was very windy and many of the feathers twisted around, which John commended as something likely to happen in real life.^[10]