Jurassic Park dinosaur was bit of a turkey
VELOCIRAPTOR, star of the Jurassic Park films, may have resembled a turkey with attitude more than a monster dinosaur.
The real-life creature was much smaller than its film version - and now scientists have established it had feathers.
Velociraptor, which lived 70 to 80 million years ago, was a two-legged predator that stood about 3ft tall and weighed around 30lb. A close relative of birds, it had two large, scythe-like claws that would have inflicted deep wounds.
In Jurassic Park, velociraptors are depicted as being taller than a man and highly intelligent. There is evidence that "raptor" dinosaurs may have been quick-witted and possibly hunted in groups. But they were nothing like as big and formidable as the films suggest, being about the size of a large turkey.
The velociraptor research, in the journal Science, shows that although the dinosaur did not fly, it had feathers.
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