The portrayal of spine-chilling and vicious velociraptors in the box office hit “Jurassic World” was completely wrong, according to scientists, after an evidence surfaced that those dinosaurs had a Chinese fowl relative. Paleontologists in the western part of Liaoning Province of China discovered a dinosaur, which was identified as the velociraptor’s cousin, and they named it Zhenyuanlong.
According to the co-author of the study, Dr. Steve Brusatte of University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, the dinosaur can be likened to a vulture or an eagle. He claimed that the movie had it wrong since he believes that the latest discovery should have the closest portrayal of a velociraptor, according to the Telegraph.
The newfound specie of dinosaur is considered the largest ever with a well-preserved and complicated pair of feathery wings that is quite far from “Jurassic World’s” film portrayal of a smooth lizard-like predator. Scientists also estimated that Zhenyuanlong lived around 125 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous Period.
Moreover, the newly discovered creature was believed to belong to a family of feathered carnivores who can grow more than five feet in height. Nevertheless, it still looks tame compared to the far more frightening dinosaur that hunted Sam Neil in the original “Jurassic Park” film in 1993, and Chris Pratt in the latest film of the franchise.
In the past, scientists were able to discover bird-like dinosaurs in the same area. The creatures have wide wings with several sets of pennaceous feathers including their large feathery tail. According to the paper published by Scientific Reports, paleontologists observed that the newfound specie is different from its relatives since it does not have vaned feathers on the hindlimb.
However, they believe Zhenyuanlong is unique and rare because most dinosaurs discovered in Liaoning Province do not have big body sizes and proportioned small forearms. In contrast, most of them are small, just as the size of a domestic house cat. Despite having a complex pair of wings, it seems that the velociraptor’s cousin cannot fly.
Researchers at the Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences concluded that the only use of the dinosaur’s large wings was for display purposes, just like how peacocks have colorful tails. They believe this is the reason why paraves still have wings but cannot fly. In order to provide a better look at Zhenyuanlong, the Mirror posted an image of an artist’s impression.
Meanwhile, the Liaoning Province of China, where the latest discovery was unearthed, is already popular for bird-like dinosaurs as thousands of fossils were found in the area. The discovery of Zhenyuanlong is just an additional proof that the fauna of the province is more diverse than expected.
Zhenyuanlong is a combination of two words. The first word is “Zhenyuan,” which pertains to the surname of the one who was able to secure the fossil for the study. On the other hand, “long” means dragon in Chinese.
Although the scientists directly pointed out the mistake of the moviemakers regarding the portrayal of velociraptors in “Jurassic World,” this is not the first time that somebody criticized the movie. Early this year, paleontologists also pointed out that the movie created dinosaurs that are scientifically inaccurate. They also accused the filmmakers as outdated in terms of scientific findings, according to the Telegraph.
In a separate issue, scientists slammed the dinosaurs used in “Jurassic World” like the pterosaurs and gallium imus. They said pterosaurs cannot lift people off the ground just like what was portrayed in the film since those dinosaurs were attractive and furry and not grotesque and monstrous. On the other hand, the gallium imus was said to have an erroneous size and should not have teeth.