National Velociraptor Awareness Day 2023: Date, History, Facts, Activities

In the early 1990s, Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” films made raptors bona fide Hollywood superstars. The 18th of April is National Velociraptor Awareness Day, a remembrance of this creature that roamed the Earth 70 million years ago.

The background of National Velociraptor Awareness Day

Unlike those depicted in films, raptors did not exceed seven feet in height. They were approximately 6.5 feet in length and less than two feet tall at the hip (though they did have fearsome hips). They had plumage and wings as well. In reality, they resembled turkey dinosaurs somewhat. Nonetheless, the filmmakers had a point.

The production of “Jurassic Park” began prior to the 1991 discovery of the 5.5-foot-tall Utahraptor skeleton, which was the largest at the time. “We designed it, we built it, and then they discovered it,” said one film designer. That continues to boggle my intellect.”

Approximately 85,8 million to 70,6 million years ago, at the close of the Cretaceous period, Velociraptors roamed the Earth. Henry Fairfield Osborn, the then-president of the American Museum of Natural History, gave this dinosaur the name’velociraptor’ in 1924. The name is derived from the Latin words’velox’ meaning ‘quick’ and ‘raptor’ meaning ‘robber.’ In an article published earlier that same year, the dinosaur was referred to as Ovoraptor Djadochtari, but the name was never used in a scientific journal, so Velociraptor became the accepted appellation.

Similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, the velociraptor was featured prominently in the “Jurassic Park” films, but the depiction in Hollywood was nothing like the actual creature in terms of scale and appearance. In the movies, the velociraptor was scaly and reptilian, but palaeontologists uncovered feathers and quill knobs on the forearm of a velociraptor fossil discovered in Mongolia in 2007. In 2008, scientists discovered protoceratops fossils with marks and grooves resembling raptor canines, along with two teeth that belonged to either a velociraptor or another dromaeosaurid.

In 2012, a sizable pterosaur bone was discovered in the digestive tract of a velociraptor, indicating that velociraptors occasionally consumed pterosaurs. There are two distinct species of velociraptor: V. mongoliensis and V. osmolskae. The latter was not recognised until 2008.

NATIONAL VELOCIRAPTOR AWARENESS DAY ACTIVITIES

Hold a film extravaganza

What better way to commemorate these ancient, deadly birds than by watching all four “Jurassic Park” films in one sitting? Make sure to invite someone who has never seen ‘Lost World.’

Fred and Wilma Flintstone,

Exemplary Bedrock residents, possessed a pet dinosaur named, what else, Dino. On National Velociraptor Awareness Day, introduce your children to this adorable dinosaur through the magic of 1960s animation.

Visit a museum.

Try the Natural History Museum or the La Brea Tar Pits in New York City or Los Angeles, respectively. Plan a trip to see actual fossils and the dinosaur-inhabited land that still exists.

5 FACTS ABOUT VELOCIRAPTORS

Due to their quill projections, Velociraptors possessed feathers.

Contrary to Hollywood depictions, velociraptors were roughly the size of a very large fowl.

All velociraptors were solitary predators.

Even though the Greek translation of velociraptor’s name is’speedy thief,’ they were not as quick as other dinosaur species.

The primary weapons of velociraptors were the single, curved talons on their feet, which they used to jab, slash, and dismember predators and prey.

NATIONAL VELOCIRAPTOR AWARENESS DAY DATES

Year	Date	Day
2023	April 18	Tuesday
2024	April 18	Thursday
2025	April 18	Friday
2026	April 18	Saturday
2027	April 18	Sunday