VeLIESiraptors!

Hey everybody, so last time I mentioned the original opinion that Jurassic Park is great. No one else has said that before right? Anyway today I want to talk about how Jurassic Park is a GIANT PACK OF LIES! So when Jurassic World was announced last year, or 2014 or whenever it was, there was a great deal of speculation, at least by me presumably by others as well about the look of the dinosaurs. It is common knowledge now that modern birds are descended from dinosaurs. Thomas Henry Huxley, a famous British biologist, proposed the idea shortly after the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859. However this hypothesis, based upon comparisons of Compsognathus and Archaeopteryx lithographica fossils, and similar claims were mostly disregarded for the next hundred years.

Left: Compsognathus, Right: Archaeopteryx lithographica

The discovery of Deinonychus antirrhopus in the 1960s reignited the debate due to the striking similarities with avian morphology. By the time Jurassic Park was released in the early 1990s most paleontologists accepted the theory, classifying all extinct species as "non-avian dinosaurs".

List of Non-Avian Dinosaur Species with evidence of feathers.
Velociraptor mongoliensis highlighted

This claim was still contested by some scientists who decried a lack of feathered dinosaurs in the fossil record. Discoveries of new fossils and reexaminations of previous finds have filled that void since then. At present over 40 species of "non-avian dinosaurs" have been found to show evidence of feathers. In fact many species have now had the color of their feathers described by researchers. Studies performed on Anchiornis huxleyi, a heavily feathered species dated from 161-151 mya, revealed that the molecular composition of the feathers was similar to eumelanin, a pigment found in cuttlefish. A similar study, performed on the fossils of extinct bats, showed that color could be determined by examining the shape of the melanosomes, cellular compartments that produce and store pigment. According to Jakob Vinther, the senior author of the study, meatball shaped melanosomes denote reddish pigments while sausage shaped pockets contain black pigments.

Great video showing some of the color changing abilities of the cuttlefish.
Cuttlefish manipulates melanin pockets in its body to change colors and camouflage.

Ok back to Jurassic Park. When you think of dinosaurs which one comes to mind first? Probably the Tyrannosaurus rex which is fair it's probably the most popular dinosaur in the world. But not far behind on that list is the Velociraptor. The terrifyingly intelligent and deadly raptors have been depicted as fast, scaly, killing machines in every iteration of the franchise. I mean just look at them:

Chris Pratt vs. the raptor pack, Jurassic World.

Who wouldn't crap their pants if they saw a pack of these things headed towards them, or tuned to see a head poking out of the trees? 

"Clever Girl" clip from Jurassic Park.

There's only one problem, THAT is not a Velociraptor! THIS is a Velociraptor:

Velociraptor mongoliensis compared with other Dromaeosaur species.

Oh sorry, let me make that a little clearer:

Velociraptor compared with other Dromaeosaur species.

Yeah that one. Lets quickly cover the differences between the movie version and the reality. Firstly

Velociraptor mongoliensis size comparison to a human.

it's covered in feathers, as evidenced in the fossil record. Secondly and more importantly, it's tiny (relatively) approximately 2.07m (6.8ft) long and 0.5m (1.6ft) tall. On top of this there is no record of Velociraptors hunting in packs, and their intelligence has been highly overstated by the films. True their brain size compared to their body was large for a dinosaur, but that is misleading. A different species, Troodon formosus, generally believed to be the smartest dinosaur based upon brain to body size ratio is still considered to have been less intelligent than most modern birds and mammals.

But why is the film version so massively different to actual Velociraptors? Simple, it was never meant to be a Velociraptor. In the 1990 novel by Michael Crichton and the following film adaptation the role of the Velociraptor was based upon a completely different dinosaur, Deinonychus antirrhopus. Crichton discussed Deinonychus at length with its discoverer, John Ostrom, and reportedly told him that he was going to use them in his novel, but that he was going to call them Velociraptors because "Its more dramatic".

Left: Deinonychus antirrhopus size comparison to a human. Right: Artist recreation D. antirrhopus

So there you have it. Jurassic Park is a pack of lies. I'd just like to leave you with this message: I love Jurassic Park. I think its a fun film. and Jeff Goldblum is fantastic. I like Jurassic World as well. Even the absolutely ridiculous T. rex and Velociraptor team up at the end was great, and the Mosasaurus looked incredible. Thanks for hanging around. See you guys next time!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_dinosaur

http://flyingdinosaurs.net/a-z-of-feathered-dinosaurs/
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/43881/title/Color-Clues-in-Dino-Fossils/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velociraptor
http://dinopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Velociraptor
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/everything-i-thought-i-knew-about-velociraptors-was-a-lie/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinonychus
http://news.yale.edu/2015/06/18/yale-s-legacy-jurassic-world
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dinosaurs/iq.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troodon
http://www.oldearth.org/curriculum/dinosaur/dinosaur_compsognathus.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compsognathus
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Archaeopteryx_lithographica_%28Berlin_specimen%29.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_World
http://screenrant.com/jurassic-world-trailers-velociraptors-chris-pratt/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKRnEOUxZm0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDwOi7HpHtQ