This Week's Featured Animal! 8/3 - 8/8

 Hello everyone! Before I begin, I would just like to state my most sincere apologies that I haven't been posting as much. My access to computers has been rather limited as of late. But I have been seeing a lot about a certain animal on the news. It played a part in a recent movie, and zookeepers around the world have been reenacting the scene in which this animal was with their own. This week's animal, though extinct, is very interesting. I am giving you, the velociraptor!

If velociraptors were housepets they'd be just like cats, total jerks!
Posted by Watch This on Saturday, June 20, 2015

Even though velociraptors are shown as pretty big dinos, they are actually quite small. Think domestic house-cat to medium dog small. Yeah. A lot smaller than the movies make them look, right?

Their scientific name, Velociraptor mongoliensis, translates literally into "Swift Thief". Fossils of these small reptiles have mainly been found in Mongolia, and likely lived in a more desert-like terrain than most dinosaurs. From nose to tail, they could reach about 6 feet long. 

Recent fossil finds have been suggesting that these tiny raptors had feathers. What's more, scientists are beginning to think that most, if not all, dinosaurs had feathers. While no one is really sure what these feathers would be used for, it would likely be camouflage, attracting a mate, or temperature regulation. That is all I can do for today though. Bye!