Velociraptor/Novel

WARNING: This article covers the "Velociraptor" as it apears in the novel canon

A giant, quiet bird of prey. - from Jurassic Park (novel)

Name meaning	Speedy Thief
Code name	Raptor
Diet	Carnivore
Height	2 meters
Length	2 meters (6 ft)
Range	Isla Nublar Isla Sorna
Novel appearances	Jurassic Park The Lost World

In the novels, "Velociraptor" (actually Achillobator) is 2 m high, with a 60 cm long head. The raptor is orange in color, with black stripes, like a tiger.

They were instinctive hunters and never passed up prey. They killed even when they weren't hungry. They killed just for the pleasure of killing. They were agile, tireless runners and incredible jumpers. They had lethal weapons on each of their four limbs; a strong punch with one of the forearms could lacerate a man. And had powerful jaws that ripped meat instead of biting it. They were also a lot more intelligent than other dinosaurs and seemed to be natural cage-breakers.

They have distributed nervous systems. According to Robert Muldoon, they don't die fast, even with a direct hit to the brain. And they're build solidly, thick ribs make a shot to the heart dicey, and they're difficult to cripple in the legs or hindquarters. Slow bleeders, slow to die.

Classification

The Velociraptors of the first novel aren't misclassified Deinonychus. Instead, they are actually misclassified Achillobator, for the following reasons:

• In the novel, Dr. Henry Wu mentions that the amber which the raptors were cloned from came from Mongolia. Therefore, they could not have been Deinonychus, since Deinonychus only lived in North America, not Mongolia.
• While writing the novel, Crichton used Gregory S. Paul's book Predatory Dinosaurs of the World as a reference. In Paul's book, he lumped together several dromaeosaurids into the genus Velociraptor, including Deinonychus, which he christened "Velociraptor antirrhopus".
• In Paul's book, it is mentioned that the remains of a Velociraptor species slightly larger than V. antirrhopus are known from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. It is likely that this was the inspiration for Crichton's giant Velociraptors.
• At the time, these remains were not yet identified. However, in 1999, it was discovered that they represented a new dinosaur species, which was named Achillobator giganticus.
• In the novel, the Velociraptors are described as being 6 feet tall, which is the same height as Achillobator.
• At the time that the park was built, Velociraptor mongoliensis was the only sickle-clawed dromaeosaurid known from Mongolia, so when raptors were cloned from Mongolian DNA, the scientists at Jurassic Park probably assumed that they belonged to V. mongoliensis, having absolutely no idea whatsoever that they really belonged to the much larger Achillobator.
• Therefore, in conclusion, the scientists at Jurassic Park cloned Achillobators from Mongolian DNA. When they hatched, they assumed that they were Velociraptor mongoliensis. And the reason why Crichton included the Achillobators in the novel is because he had read about them in Paul's book.

Jurassic Park novel

Velociraptors are the first dinosaurs to escape. They had found a hidden place to nest and the number of raptors rose quickly. Before everyone on the island left they had to check how many raptors there were. But they "migrated" away before they could and the island was destroyed. Before this, when the park's main power was unknowingly off for five hours, the eight captive raptors escaped from confinement. Shortly after escaping, they killed two security guards and several workmen. Robert Muldoon kills one raptor with his LAW rocket launcher (of which he only has six shells) and wounds another by blowing its leg off. After chasing Ellie Sattler and Muldoon, they killed Henry Wu and John Arnold, and then found the children in the computer room. Grant came to rescue the children, and they ran through the computer room and the nursery and into the hatching lab. The kids ran into another room and Grant had them lock the door. It was here Grant found a toxic liquid chemical and injected it into some dinosaur eggs, then rolled them in front of the raptors. One raptor ate it and started dying from the poison, the second tore it open and killed it. It ate one of the poisoned eggs and died of poisoning; the last heard his radio as Sattler was trying to talk to him, but Grant was able to inject the syringe directly in the tail with the toxin. The wild raptors in the first book could also change the color of their skin, much like a chameleon and like the Carnotaurus in the second novel. All of the raptors, including Clarence, died in the napalm bombing.

The Lost World novel

In the Jurassic Park novel, the wild Velociraptors cared for their young and only the captives were pointless killers, even killing an infant that had been raised in the nursery. In The Lost World, their behavior is somewhat different; they don't care for the young or each other, apparently because, as relatively intelligent creatures, they were created but had no predecessors to learn proper pack behavior from, and lived in a survival-of-the-fittest society. It seems social dynamics beyond hunting are beyond them, and they displayed high cannibalism. The prion plague DX that was running rampant on Isla Sorna may be the reason why these raptors behaved so differently. The raptors were first seen by Ian Malcolm, Richard Levine, and Jack Thorne, when they were in the High Hide. Malcolm talked to Thorne about how vicious they were. Then, while Howard King was walking through some tall grass, trying to escape from the island, he was ambushed and killed by a pack of Velociraptors, one of which seemed to be eating his candy bar and enjoying it. Later, while Kelly, Arby, and Levine were in the High Hide, together, the Velociraptor pack attacked them, yet again, using their sickle-shaped killing toe claws to climb up the High Hide, in order to reach their prey. Eddie Carr attempted to deter them by hitting them on the snouts with a metal bar, but one of the raptors then tugged on the metal bar, causing Eddie to fall down to the ground, where the pack then promptly killed him. Afterward, Sarah Harding teamed up with Kelly, to tranquilize a raptor, while riding on a motorcycle. Kelly held the rifle. After several missed shots, she finally managed to hit the raptor, knocking it unconscious. Later on, when the team was in a Convenience Store, the raptors attacked the Store, attempting to catch the humans. One of them stuck its head through, nearly killing Levine. However, Kelly then managed to save the day, by finding an air vent, for them to crawl through. They then followed through with Kelly's plan, and they escaped the island, and returned back home, on a boat found inside the old InGen boathouse on Site B.

Behind the scenes

The Lost World: Jurassic Park Velociraptor concept art inspired by those from the novel canon.