Velociraptor in GURPS

Velociraptor mongoliensis was a smallish predator, roughly coyote, bobcat, or turkey sized, with a length of about 2 meters long and 15 to 20 kg in mass.It lived in the late-ish Cretaceous period, 75 to 71 million years ago, in east Asia – specifically, in what would one day be known as Mongolia. Its habitat would have been dry and sandy, with bare rock, dunes, dry scrub, and the occasional oasis; regularly scoured by sand storms; and roamed by herds of the small ceratopsian dinosaur Protoceratops. Other animals that lived alongside Velociraptor were the ankylosaur dinosaur Pinacosaurus, the hadrosaur dinosaur Plesiohadros, the ceratopsian dinosaur Udanoceratops, quite a number of species of oviraptorid, alvarezsaurid, and troodontid dinosaurs, the giant predatory dinosaur Tarbosaurus, at least two other dromeosaurids (the chicken-sized Mahakala and the turkey-sized Tsaagan), several birds and mammals, a number of crocodylomorphs (crocodile-like animals), and a variety of lizards including the venomous Estesia which was similar in size, shape, and habits to the modern Komodo dragon.

There exists a remarkable fossil of a complete and articulated Velociraptor locked in mortal combat with a Protoceratops. The Protoceratops is crushing the Velociraptor's arm in its beak, while the Velociraptor has its raptorial toe claw embedded in the Protoceratops's neck. Both perished, and were quickly covered by sand to be preserved through the eons. This is unlikely to have been a common occurrence, however, since Protoceratops was a much larger animal than Velociraptor. More likely, Velociraptor commonly preyed upon hatchling and juvenile Protoceratops, as well as other small animals of the east Asian deserts. Another fossil of Velociraptor contains bones of an ahzdarchid pterosaur in its gut, while a Protoceratops fossil has been found that was interpreted as evidence of late-stage scavenging by a Velociraptor. On the other side of the coin, bones of hatchling Velociraptors have been found in an Oviraptor nest – whether this was because of the parent Oviraptors feeding Velociraptors to their hungry brood or cuckoo-like brood parasitism by Velociraptor is not known.

Unlike some other dromeosaurs, Velociraptor fossils seem to be solitary. There is currently no evidence that they hunted cooperatively or lived together.

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