Inspiration Behind Jurassic Park's Velociraptors

Jurassic Park is a well-loved classic that brought dinosaurs into all our hearts back in the 90s. Renowned for it’s never before seen integration of CGI and Animatronic Figures into live action scenes; the magic of Steven Spielberg’s cinematography and Michael Crichton’s beloved characters all made this film a masterpiece. Of course, we cannot leave out a special mention to our timeless dinosaurs, which with each passing year, a new inaccuracy is found with their on-screen portrayal; most notoriously, the Velociraptors.

Inaccuracies On The Big Screen

The on-screen portrayal of Velociraptors has stayed relatively consistent within the movies over the decades – and by consistent, I mean imprecise to palaeontologists’ interpretation of their bones.

Unlike their fictional counterparts, Velociraptors were smaller dinosaurs, growing to approximately the size of a large dog and would weigh around 45kg (100 pounds). Though still swift creatures, they would only clock 25mph (40kph) as their top speed, just slower than a T-Rex’s top speed of 30mph (48kph). Moreover – and of more help to poor Muldoon – these dinosaurs are theorised to have not hunted in packs; palaeontologists normally find Velociraptor bones alone, giving them indications that they were solo hunters.

We cannot forget one of the bigger issues too with our scaly favourites – Velociraptors did not have scales, but instead had feathers. In 2007, Science published an article on Raptors where bones had been analysed and found that the fossilised remains had quill knobs. These are bumps along the forearm that anchor feather quills to the bone; an evolution that is found in majority of modern birds. Furthermore, these Dino’s come from the sub-group called theropods, a collection of three-toed predators, giving an additional explanation as to why they share many traits with modern-day birds, such as hinged ankles, swivel-jointed wrists, and forward-facing toes to name only a few. Thankfully for Jurassic Park, the first evidence of Raptors having feathers wasn’t until 1998, which was at least after the first two movies.

However, despite all these changes, the Velociraptors that we came to love and fear in our cherished franchise had to of had some bases of facts. Unlike the Indominus Rex and the Indoraptor, Velociraptors are not fictional – so where did their inspiration come from?

Fact – Deinonychus and Utahraptor

Admitted by Michael Crichton, the Velociraptor’s where much more inspired by its close relative, Deinonychus, a dinosaur that was larger, reaching 3.4 meters in length and weighting up to 75kg (165 pounds). Larger and heavier, but much slower. Deinonychus had a smaller foot-tibia ratio, which helped palaeontologist determine that the average speed of the creature would have only been 6pmh (9.5km), a speed that isn’t nearly as impressive, although still as fast or faster than an average human. Nonetheless, even slower it was still deadlier, with hunting patterns estimating that this dinosaur would even take on prey larger than itself and begin eating even when the prey was still alive (Dr Grant didn’t just say that one to scare a little kid!).

Then there was Utahraptors, less of a sibling and more a first cousin. The biggest of the three raptors could grow to up to 5.5 meters in length and weigh 300kg (660 pounds). Unlike Deinonychus, this larger relative was estimated to be considerably, nearly like that of a Velociraptor, clocking 24mph (38km) as its max speed. The first remains of a Utahraptor was discovered in 1975, and officially named in 1993 after the state it was found in. Despite not given any special mention by creators, the Utahraptor could have lent a hand to inspiration. However, just like Velociraptor and Deinonychus, the Utahraptor was also believed to be a feathered Dino.

I’ll Take Scales Over Nothing

The inaccuracies of Jurassic Park are forever cemented in time, just as the iconic film is. Long before I had ever watched the movie as a child, Raptors had been one of my top 3 favourite dinosaurs. Sure, we got scales, but I’ll take it and at the end of the day, it is undeniable the amount of fear those creatures put into our hearts on the screen.

If it ever gets you down, take the fan-theory that these creatures look different due to the gaps in the DNA being filled with frog’s DNA. Since certain breeds of frog can change their gender after mating, this led to some of the dinosaurs changing gender to reproduce in the Park; and thus could lend to an explanation as to why some of the dinosaurs looked different to palaeontologist’s ideas of the creatures.

Overall, we can still thank the movie to this day for giving many children the motivation to follow their dreams into becoming palaeontologists.