"Velociraptor" Segments

Nemegt Velociraptorine4 Appearances
Presence
Deserts (Segment 2) 2 adult females Freshwater (Segment 1) 1 adult female 2 adult males Badlands (Segment 2) 2+ adult females 2+ adult males 10+ juveniles Did Velociraptor Have Feathers? Stock footage from Freshwater
Notes
The only animal (aside from Nanuqsaurus) that appeared in multiple segments shown hunting in all the segments it was featured in.

Main

Segments

Gallery

MainSegmentsGallery

These are Prehistoric Planet segments which feature "Velociraptor".

Deserts

The second segment of Deserts takes place in Asia. In the simmering heat of the desert, where the temperature rises to 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) at the height of summer, a lizard, only a few inches long, runs around to find a meal, pursuing a fly across the rocky wilderness. The lizard eventually comes across a rotting sauropod carcass, with azhdarchids circling overhead. Surrounding the corpse was a group of four sleeping Tarbosauruses. Seeing the number of flies attracted to the carcass and the smelly faces of the tyrannosaurs that fed on the carcass, the lizard sees the good feeding opportunity, and musters some courage to go after some flies, running on and around a Tarbosaurus, trying to catch some of the flies that gathered around its face, taking caution not to awaken the large theropod.

“ A Velociraptor. Time to be careful, because Velociraptors often hunt... together. ”

― David Attenborough, Deserts

Just then, a Velociraptor rushes in and snaps up another lizard in the area. A second Velociraptor, eyeing another lizard in the area, rushes at the little creature, but the lizard manages to run away in time. Carefully, the Velociraptor sneaks around the sleeping Tarbosauruses, seeking out more lizards to eat. Finding another one, it goes after it, the lizard rushing under a sleeping Tarbosaurus, causing the Velociraptor to bump into the bigger theropod, waking it up. Not happy to be disturbed, the tyrannosaur reaches out in an attempt to snap the Velociraptor, which rushes off with its companion as the Tarbosaurus gets up, causing the other Tarbosauruses to also wake up. The tyrannosaurs decide to leave the carcass, which has not that much left on it anymore, allowing the azhdarchids flying overhead to finally come down and feast on what little remains of the sauropod. The opportunity to feed gone, the little lizard scampered away from the area, running across the desert once more to look for food.

Freshwater

	Freshwater, Segment I
	Setting Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia Filming Location Palouse Falls, Washington, USA

Freshwater, Segment I

Setting
Nemegt Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Filming Location
Palouse Falls, Washington, USA

The first segment of the episode takes place around a canyon carved up by a river. This area serves as the home of a colony of juvenile azhdarchids, already capable of flying hundreds of miles a day. Each evening, the pterosaurs, numbering in the thousands, roost by the narrow ledges surrounding a massive cliffside waterfall, taking refuge in this remote area that cannot be accessed by most terrestrial predators, save for one. A female Velociraptor, joined by two males, survey the area from the rocks atop the falls, planning to grab some pterosaurs before the end of the day.

“ The pterosaurs are skittish. They would take to the air at the first sign of danger. If the Velociraptors are to get a meal, the element of surprise must be crucial. ”

― David Attenborough, Freshwater

Aiming to snatch the pterosaurs resting on the margins of the colony, the Velociraptors make their way down the precarious cliffside, the roar of the waterfall drowning out the sounds of their movements and the rocks that break off and fall with every step. With the pterosaurs still unaware of their presence, the female leaps up a higher ledge, while the two males continue to go down the lower ledges.

With prey now within striking distance, the two males prepare to spring out, but the female launches her attack first, leaping down on a pterosaur (surprising the other pterosaurs in the process), grabbing it with her jaws and dragging it across the cliffside as both of them fall down on a lower ledge. She gets up, unhurt by the fall, and tries to twist and snap her prey's neck. The two males leap down, wanting a share of the catch, which is still alive and screeching in pain, but the female, unwilling to share, gets into a hissing fight with them. Suddenly, the thousands of pterosaurs resting all over the canyon, now aware of the assault, screech and swoop in to mob the dromaeosaurs, which try to leap and fight back.

“ She has one. But now the whole colony is alarmed. In the chaos, her victim slips from the ledge. The female puts the effectiveness of her feathered tail to the test, and, in the end, she gets her meal. The males are left to face the pterosaurs. ”

― David Attenborough, Freshwater

As the Velociraptors and juvenile azhdarchids try to fight off each other, the attacked pterosaur slips off the cliff face. Seeing this, the female leaps off the ledge, using her agility and feathered tail to control her descent, leaping and rolling off the walls until she got to the bottom. With that, she grabbed the now-dead pterosaur which she worked hard to catch on her own and rushed out of the area, leaving the two males as they continue to try and fight off the azhdarchid colony.

Badlands

In the second segment of the episode, in a maze of canyons forming an extensive maze of narrow passages, a new family of Velociraptors look after their young, just a few weeks old. The juveniles, numbering around 10 - 12, rush out from under the shade of a rock, with one bumping into the leg of an adult, which, along with three other adults, loiters around in one of the narrow passages, awaiting the chance to hunt.

“ It might seem that, in such a barren place, they face an uncertain future. Their survival relies on a strange event not here, but miles from their home. ”

― David Attenborough, Badlands

Several miles away, a temporary oasis has formed. Aware of this, a herd of Nemegtosaurus and Mongolian Titans, along with some Prenocephale hiding among them for protection, make their way through the maze of canyons in order to reach the temporary oasis that formed in the distance. Suddenly, the herd is thrown into panic by a trio of Tarbosaurus, with one of the Nemegtosaurus stumbling off a low ledge and dying in the process. Frightened by these sudden turn of events, the Prenocephale run up a canyon to escape to higher ground, an option the sauropods cannot take as they try to travel through the maze as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this means they ran right into the ambush of the Velociraptors, with one of the dromaeosaurs singling out one of the Prenocephale and pursuing it up a path where another Velociraptor is waiting. Upon reaching the ambush point, the other Velociraptor springs from behind the wall to kick the Prenocephale off the edge to its death.

“ Now, the Velociraptors can finally spring their ambush. At last. Working together, they have secured a meal for the whole family. The Tarbosaurs have also had success. For predators, it's actually a time of plenty. And for the Velociraptors, the perfect time to start a family. ”

― David Attenborough, Badlands

As the trio of Tarbosaurus feed on the Nemegtosaurus that stumbled and died during the stampede, the two Velociraptors, along with their chicks, descend from the canyon to feed on the fallen Prenocephale, a meal secured for the whole family.

Uncovered: Did Velociraptor Have Feathers?

	Did Velociraptor Have Feathers?
	Subject The evidence of existence and purpose of feathers in Velociraptor and other dromaeosaurs. Experts Dr. Darren Naish, Professor Paul Barrett

Did Velociraptor Have Feathers?

Subject
The evidence of existence and purpose of feathers in Velociraptor and other dromaeosaurs.

Experts
Dr. Darren Naish, Professor Paul Barrett

Footage of Velociraptors from Deserts and Freshwater were shown in this Uncovered segment, which is dedicated to whether Velociraptors had feathers, and what purpose these feathers would serve. When a prehistoric animal fossilizes, their bones tend to be preserved very well. Unfortunately, the skin and the other soft parts usually tend to rot away and leave little to no trace instead, leaving much of them to guesswork. However, there are some cases were exceptional fossils finally answer long-held questions.

The idea that Velociraptor is feathered is no longer a controversial view in the modern day, with at least 60 other dinosaurs known to be fully covered in feathers, much like modern birds. Some of the most perfect fossilized feathers have been found in China, among them, Zhenyuanlong, which was discovered in 2015, with its tail feathers and the wings on its arms preserved in astonishing detail.

“ For Velociraptor in particular, fossils have even been found with indentations in the bone, showing exactly where feathers would have been positioned. ”

― David Attenborough, Did Velociraptor Have Feathers?

With this irrefutable evidence replacing the familiar image of scaly monsters with that of a "really terrifying turkey", the next thing to find out would be why Velociraptor, a clearly-flightless predator, needed them to begin with. In truth, while the concept of feathers at first appear to make them less scary, the presence of feathers actually make Velociraptor an even deadlier hunter.

“ When we look at modern animals, we see that feathers are useful for so much more than just flying. For an animal like Velociraptor, feathers would have helped to control movement, particularly when the animal was leaping, climbing, or changing direction during a hunt. ”

― Dr. Darren Naish, Lead Scientific Consultant

The feathers functioning as armor of sorts, providing protection to absorb blows of retaliation from prey and collisions with the environment, would have further helped these hunters succeed even in the most difficult of terrains. As can be seen on the succeeding episodes of Prehistoric Planet, some dinosaurs would indeed rely on their feathers for several purposes, with the adult Therizinosaurus being able to disregard bee stings in Forests, the Imperobator pack using their feathers to gain an advantage in maneuverability in Islands, and the Corythoraptors using their heavily-feathered bodies to shield their eggs from the desert sun in Badlands.

Gallery

Join us for a story you've never heard, on a scale you've never witnessed

Prehistoric Planet has a gallery for "Velociraptor" Click here to visit it!

Prehistoric Planet has a gallery for
"Velociraptor"

Press here to visit it!

Trivia

General

• Velociraptor is one of the two animals that appeared in multiple segments shown hunting in all the segments it was featured in. It hunted and ate a lizard in the second segment of Deserts, ran off with a juvenile azhdarchid to eat it offscreen by the end of the first segment of Freshwater, and engaged in cooperative behavior to hunt down a Prenocephale in the second segment of Badlands. The other is the Alaskan tyrannosaur Nanuqsaurus, which hunted Pachyrhinosaurus in the sixth segment of Ice Worlds and Ornithomimus in the fifth segment of North America. Close contenders include:
  • Hatzegopteryx, which ate a juvenile Zalmoxes in the seventh segment of Forests and a juvenile Tethyshadros in the second segment of Islands, though in its third appearance, it only used a juvenile Tethyshadros as a reusable proof of strength, with neither the male nor the female he mated with actually consuming it by the end of the sixth segment of Islands.
  • If looking for a dead body to scavenge is counted, Tyrannosaurus rex (which ate a dead turtle in the first segment of Coasts, ate a Triceratops it killed offscreen in the second segment of Freshwater, hunted an Edmontosaurus at night in the fifth segment of Swamps, and scavenged a newly-deceased Alamosaurus in the first segment of North America).

Freshwater

• The basis for the scenario presented in the first segment of Freshwater came in the form of an azhdarchid long bone in a Velociraptor's stomach, direct evidence that the dromaeosaur at least scavenged the remains of azhdarchid pterosaurs in the area.
• Of all the segments it appeared in (not counting its Uncovered segment), this is the only one where Velociraptor does not eat its prey onscreen. Instead, the female runs off with her kill to eat it elsewhere.

Badlands

• The second segment of Badlands, which involves Velociraptors capitalizing on an attack launched by three Tarbosauruses on a titanosaur herd traveling through a maze of canyons in the Nemegt Formation, was shot in some places in Saudi Arabia, like Al-'Ula city in the Medina Province and Tabuk City of the Tabuk Region.