Which RAPTOR is Actually in Jurassic Park? (Hint: IT'S NOT VELOCIRAPTOR)

Did you know that there are no velociraptors in Jurassic Park? Not in Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, or any of the other movies in the franchise. The dinosaur that is in these movies, as it turns out, is even cooler still. While it is not a velociraptor, it is a member of the clade Maniraptora. It is a raptor. Let's explore this amazing clade and discover what this dinosaur really is.

#jurassicpark #jurassicworld #clintsreptiles

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ucb = "under CC BY"

"Ichthyosaurios" by Nobu Tamura ucb 3.0
"T-Rex skeleton" by Greg Goebel ucb 2.0

[GetgreeD]

For all those Herping-Channels who claim they are "educational", this is what i call Education. Watching Clint is like taking One of your most loved Books out of the Shelf and then read something new inside, something you never heard of or never thougt of digging into...

[yumyumcowpie]

Hey, Clint. Usually, when you're talking about animals, you manage to source one to handle so that we can see how it behaves. While I understand that Deinonychus can be a little difficult, I'm very disappointed to see that you weren't even able to get a live Velociraptor onto the set.

[joshualandry]

I love how the book actually admits that the identification is wrong. Wu claims the velociraptor identification was based on the location and age of the mosquito find and the appearance of the juvenile animals. Grant knows that the identification must be incorrect but he doesn't push the issue. It is used as another bit to build the mood of Jurassic Park cutting corners and not really knowing what they are doing.

[mr.dr.kaiser]

It's crazy to me how Crichton's one arbitrary naming decision had such a huge impact on pop culture. Had he used the correct name, then Deinonychus would be the one perceived as the hyper-intelligent killer dinosaur, and Velociraptor would probably just be viewed as a weird, small cousin.

[MeAbroad]

I had no idea Utahraptor was so big. Great work and an engaging, quirky style - love it

[motorcitymangababe]

I still want parodies of your regular videos!

"Is velociraptor the right pet for you?"

Come on, sell me on a murder turkey. If anyone could it would be you lol

[TVJUNK]

Slight correction:

The sickle claw actually likely wasn't used to slash, but to grip and pin prey down. The teeth, being serated and flat like steak knives, likely did the cutting. The wings, being adorned with primary feathers, likely used to flap and maintain balance while on top of the prey. This entire system is called Raptor Prey Restraint, and it's what modern day raptors like Hawks and Eagles do today.

The part about you still being alive as they start to eat you, still true.

[ZSakari]

Thank you so much for not cutting those clips too early. Seeing the kids face again when Alan asks him to “show a little respect” made my day 😂

[Duncan_Idaho_Potato]

I remember that a short time after JP came out, a lot of pop-science publications published articles about how the velociraptor was nothing like what was depicted in the movie. Then a short time after that, Utahraptor was discovered and those same publications were publishing articles about how scientists had discovered the REAL velociraptor from Jurassic Park. Apparently, none of them knew about deinonychus.

[drewdrewski]

Like the use of Velociraptor instead of Deinonychus, Alan Grant's movie line about raptor meaning "bird of prey" is also derived from a scene in the novel. (Spoilers) Early in the book, a young construction worker at Jurassic Park who was attacked by a raptor was brought to a hospital in a failed attempt to save his life. In his dying gasps he said the word "raptor" over and over, which the English-speaking doctor assumed was a Spanish word she didn't know. After some digging she realized it's an English word, and the dictionary defined it as "bird of prey."

[Exav]

I am living for this man's enthusiasm for Dinosaurs. Mad respect

[hatnemtom]

Clint is hands down the most wholesome scientist/biologist in the entire world.
I wish I could see him give a lecture about anything in a classroom.

[terryberry]

And next time: "Is the velociraptor the best pet dinosaur?"

[mdev]

Just a small note, it’s no longer thought that raptors used that big claw as a “slashing” weapon. Rather, it’s thought that they used it to help hold onto prey and pin them to the ground, tearing them apart with their jaws and sharp teeth, possibly while their prey was still alive.

… Tbh, I’m really not sure which idea is scarier.

But that was just a really minor nitpick. Great video as always!

[PaleoAnalysis]

I was re watching this on a walk while working on my next script and I had a random thought...

Troodontids are always a fun group to talk about. People love to point out that even though the clade still is valid the actual species name Troodon is not.

However, as someone who has spoken to several Paleontologist on the subject, I can tell you that this is not going to be the case forever. Because many of them have said that as soon as a new species in the clade is discovered, they will be re validating the title. So it's kinda like a Brotosaurus situation. It was deemed an invalid species but as soon as a new one turns up they are going to stick that name to it. 👀

[johnnyfreespeech]

When you actually look at all of the different groupings of dinosaurs separated from each other by millions of years and realise that somehow palaeontologists are able to identify each species and trace its evolution throughout prehistory you definitely gain an appreciation for the incredible work these guys do.

Seriously, this is surely one of the most amazing feats of human scientific knowledge. We’ve existed some 250, 000 years approximately yet they can trace species that have been extinct MILLIONS of years and existed in many different forms for many millions of years before their extinction… 🤯

[dragonbowlsupper]

I can feel Clint's unbridled joy that he finally gets to do a dinosaur episode

[RoninXDarknight]

I've seen entire arguments where people tried to argue that Crichton based his raptors on something other than Deinonychus using speculation about what information he did and didn't have when writing the book...which always makes me face-palm because even if the JP raptors are more similar to a different species, all of that is irrelevant in the face of the fact that Crichton himself stated that he based them on Deinonychus and then called them Velociraptor for the cool factor.

So glad you mentioned that here.

[Croftice]

While the regular JP Velociraptors might have been Deinonychus, The Big One (the Alpha female from the begining, who Muldoon said about that she killed the others except for two) was a Utahraptor according to Robert T. Bakker, who was working with Spielberg's filming team. You know the popular novel "Raptor Red" by R. T. Bakker? In there is a foreword on how the team harassed him with questions about their dinos and one day they asked, if a large "Velociraptor" would be scientifically possible (meaning if it's possible to dig out a fossil of that size, that they wanted in the movie). Then later Bakker's team uncovered the Utahraptor and "confirmed" the studios request, saying something like "I've found your Big One". So the leading raptor was confirmed to be Utahraptor, the Big One, the regular ones were most likely Deinonychus. Bakker is btw also mentioned in the movie by Tim. When the group goes to see the ill Tric, Tim talks to Grant about reading his book and also a book of someone called Bakker, the later's book had more pages than Grant's.

In a bigger picture it's also still open for interpretation. Why? Because despite the scientific knowledge and that we're able to use it to "guess" the species true identity in the movies, it overall doesn't really matter that much. They aren't real dinos, they are clones mostly altered by fidling with their DNA, trying to fix it with adding bits from other species (a huge subplot in the novels, why dinos reproduce despite being created as females and stuff), so the results are InGen creations, that somehow look like dinosaurs, but aren't. At least not pure dinos. That also explains, or rather justifies why most of them don't have feathers, like real dinos should.

[Syurtpiutha]

Appreciate the dinosaur enthusiasm, Jurrassic Park enthusiasm, Feathered dinosaur enthusiasm. There's just a lot of enthusiasm in your presentation in general and it is appreciated. I remember being confused as a kid because I was more familiar with Deinonychus in books, and velociraptor didn't match their images in those books at all. But I begrudgingly agree that velociraptor 'sounds cooler' than Deinonychus (especially since I'm never sure how to pronounce the latter).